


Trust (Four’s Company, Too)

by pterawaters



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-25
Updated: 2011-05-28
Packaged: 2017-11-07 14:33:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/432207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Puck instigated almost every step in this weird relationship they’ve got going on. So why does he feel so apart from everything and will his boys notice before he’s gone?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this prompt ](http://puckurt.livejournal.com/970926.html?thread=23661230)by [](http://ice-whisper.livejournal.com/profile)[**ice_whisper**](http://ice-whisper.livejournal.com/)  ****

 

“You’re sure this is okay?” Finn whispered as Puck pulled his shirt over his head. “I mean, what if we get caught? What am I gonna tell my mom?”

“Tell your mom,” Puck whispered back, “that you’re sickeningly in love with me, dude. She’ll go all misty-eyed and forget about the nakedness.”

“But I…” Finn dithered, squirming as Puck took his shorts away. “I mean, do _you_ love _me_ , Puck?”

Puck laughed, “Fuck, no. I mean, I like you Finn. You’re my best friend and I like fooling around with you. But we’re fourteen, dude. I’m not gonna fall in love until I’m old. Like twenty-five.”

“Sure,” Finn nodded, gasping a little as Puck grabbed his dick and started stroking. “God, dude. That’s really good.”

Smirking, Puck leaned forward and kissed Finn, whispering against his lips, “I know.”

**88**

“Kurt?” Finn asked one night when they were hanging out, waiting for their parents to get back from a movie.

“Yeah?” the boy asked, looking up from filing his nails.

Finn sighed, wondering if he could really say this out loud or not. “Like, our parents are probably going to move back in together soon, right?”

“Probably,” Kurt agreed, setting down his nail file and giving Finn his full attention, chin resting on one of his hands. “Are you worried you’ll have to share a room with me again?”

“Look, you know I’m sorry about freaking out back then,” Finn started, “but you don’t know why it was so _difficult_ for me to have you around all the time.”

“I know,” Kurt scoffed. “You’re afraid of my gayness. Don’t worry, I won’t confront you with it or anything.”

“That’s not,” Finn huffed. “Look, I got angry because I’m not ... I’m not _ready_ , Kurt. Not for everyone to know. Not for my mom to know. Not for Rachel to know.”

Kurt raised one eyebrow and asked carefully, “Know what?”

“That I’m … you know,” Finn insisted. “Or at least mostly.”

“You’re gay?” Kurt asked, suddenly sitting up straight in his chair.

“Mostly gay,” Finn insisted. “Puck’s the only one who knows. Or, he has a pretty good idea since we used to … before Quinn.”

Kurt’s jaw fell open as he processed before he wrapped his arms around himself and nodded, “I see. You like boys like Puck. That’s fine. I’m glad you told me.”

“Kurt,” Finn sighed, moving to kneel in front of the boy and take his hands. “I know I was horrible to you, and it’s because I was scared. And now I’m scared again. If you move in and you’re there all the time, looking the way you do and smelling the way you do, I don’t think I could help…”

Kurt’s smile grew slowly until he turned his hands over to grip Finn’s. Before Finn knew what was happening, kissing was happening and Finn finally felt like he was home. Then Kurt pushed back and asked, “What about Rachel?”

“Rachel’s not really interested in me,” Finn insisted. “She’s interested in fame and glory, but I’m afraid if I break up with her, she’ll know what’s going on. She’s a little psychic, you know.”

Kurt laughed and pulled Finn close again. “We’ll figure something out.”

**88**

Puck was feeling pretty low during the summer after he and Quinn gave away their daughter. He ended up going to fight club as often as it was held, managing to keep the bruises and cuts away from his face, so his mother wouldn’t find out. After a few weeks, Dave Karofsky started showing up, too.

“What’s your deal, Karofsky?” Puck asked after the kid deliberately got the shit kicked out of him. “Why do this to yourself, man? I know you’re better than this. We used to beat up nerds together.”

“I deserve it,” Karofsky grunted, sitting up and rubbing his face with one hand. “I shouldn’t be like this.”

“Like what?” Puck asked. “An asshole?”

“Gay!” Karofsky growled, his mouth falling open as he realized what he’d said. “I mean … If you ever tell anyone, I’ll kill you.”

Puck smirked, catching Karofsky’s eyes and giving him a hard look, “I won’t tell anyone, dude. But you gotta get rid of this self-hatred. There’s nothing wrong with liking guys, no matter what your friends or your parents say about it.”

Karofsky scoffed, asking, “What would you know about it, Puckerman? You’re the biggest ladies’ man in school.”

“I’m also the biggest cock-slut in school,” Puck whispered smirking when Karofsky looked up at him in disbelief. “Except maybe Brittany. Dude, you being gay is like, the best thing ever to happen to me, since my previous boy decided he was going to try to be straight. It’s not easy finding guys on the down-low.”

“What about that little fairy?” Karofsky asked. “Why aren’t you tapping that ass if you’re so hard up?”

“Because,” Puck explained. “Kurt’s a naïve prude and he’s totally in love with Finn Hudson. It’d take _years_ for me to get into his pants. I’m thinking you’re probably the easier lay. Am I right?”

Dave pulled Puck into a rough, and a little bloody, kiss.

**88**

Finn held Puck back from football practice and said, “Dude. You’re friends with Karofsky, right? Can’t you get him to lay off Kurt? Things got really bad while you were gone. I think something even worse is going to happen.”

“I tried, man,” Puck insisted, “but he won’t listen to me anymore.”

“Kurt’s really upset,” Finn admitted. “And Burt almost killed Karofsky in the hallway the other day. Kurt can’t deal with Karofsky _and_ with the wedding and everything.”

Puck looked Finn up and down before smirking, “You’ve got a lot of concern about Kurt, man. What, are you his girlfriend or something?”

“We’re going to be step-brothers,” Finn insisted, though he could feel himself blushing up a storm.

“And you’re fucking!” Puck grinned, clapping Finn on the back. “Rachel won’t put out, so you go for the step-bro. Nice, dude.”

“It’s not like that,” Finn insisted. “And I’ve been looking for a reason to break up with Rachel. She’s just so…”

“I think I can help with that,” Puck nodded. “And I’ll talk to Karofsky, man, but I can’t promise anything. He’s being more of a douche right now than normal. He seems more than a little obsessed with your boyfriend.”

“Thanks, Puck,” Finn nodded, leading the way back toward the locker room and hoping Kurt wouldn’t be too mad about their friend finding out about them. As much as Finn didn’t want to come out, Kurt didn’t want anyone to know he was getting it on with a boy who was practically his brother. Finn smiled, though, when he thought about the song he was going to sing Kurt at the wedding. He’d be getting laid that night, for sure.

**88**

“Dude,” Puck started, grabbing Karofsky and pulling him into Beiste’s office. “What’s this I hear about you going ape shit on Kurt? You know he’s my boy.”

“I’m sorry,” Dave hissed. “I can’t help it, man. I just get so _mad_ when he walks around in his prissy little clothes with his prissy little nose in the air, acting like he’s better than the rest of us.”

Puck shook his head and said, “I know you want him, Dave, but you can’t have him. You’re _mine_.”

“What if I don’t want to _be_ yours anymore, Noah?” Dave sneered, pushing one of Puck’s shoulders in a challenge.

“You won’t stop coming back for more,” Puck told him, whispering roughly in Dave’s ear. “Even if you’d like to pretend you want someone else, I know you’re gonna keep coming back to me.”

Dave sneered, saying, “Don’t count on it.”

When Puck got banished to a port-o-potty for a whole day, he figured maybe he shouldn’t have pushed Karofsky so hard.

**88**

Dave didn’t want to be what he was. He didn’t want to humiliate and threaten Kurt or Puck. He especially didn’t want to lose Puck, but the guy made him feel all sorts of things he wasn’t ready to feel, made him do all sorts of things he wasn’t ready to do. Except that he _was_ ready. He needed it. He needed Puck back.

So, he got out on the field and danced with the rest of the team, feeling stupid for not putting on his zombie make-up. He grabbed Puck after the number and said softly in his ear, “I’m sorry, Noah. Could we…?”

Puck looked around before slowly coming to a decision. “Yeah, Dave. Yeah, we can. Just, don’t be a douche to my friends anymore, alright?”

“Okay,” Dave nodded, squeezing Puck’s hand and then running off toward the rest of the team, jumping at Azimio as they celebrated their victory. The next morning he had a text from Puck, asking to meet at Puck’s house that afternoon. Dave smiled and said, “Oh, nothing,” when his mom asked him why he looked so happy.

**88**

“Finn,” Kurt said softly as he pulled himself out of the taller boy’s arms. “I don’t think I want to do this anymore.”

“Why?” Finn asked, pouting as Kurt moved away. “I love you, Kurt.”

“And I love you,” Kurt replied, a tear rolling down his cheek. “It’s just … you’re not out and I am. It shouldn’t make a difference, but it does. Plus, everyone sees us as family. We could never be boyfriends in public, and I don’t think I can stick with this if we don’t have a future.”

“But…” Finn protested. “I broke up with Rachel. I’ll come out. I will.”

“And it still won’t work,” Kurt shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

Finn felt like his guts were going to implode as he frowned at Kurt, an awful idea coming to mind. “This is about Blaine, isn’t it? You want to start seeing him, instead of me.”

Kurt looked down and nodded. “Please don’t hate me. I couldn’t stand us not being close. I just don’t think we have a healthy relationship Finn. I could have that with Blaine. If you came out, you could have that with someone else.”

“Get out,” Finn said, his voice low with sadness. “Just go, Kurt. I need some time before I can look at you.”

“Okay,” Kurt whispered, wiping away a tear and leaving Finn’s room, closing the door behind him.

This was the heartbreak Finn had pretended to feel when he found out Rachel “cheated” on him with Puck. This was too hard.

**88**

It had been difficult acting like a normal person when Kurt brought Blaine to Rachel’s party. It had been difficult brushing off Quinn’s advances, because Finn knew it wouldn’t do him any good in the long run.

Wondering if maybe he could talk to Puck for awhile, about everything, Finn went over to Puck’s house the morning after the party, knowing Puck was usually in a pretty chill mood when he was hung over. Puck’s mom’s car was gone, so he just let himself into the house like he’d done on any number of occasions and went up the stairs.

What he found in Puck’s room wasn’t anything like what he expected.

Instead of Puck passed out on his stomach, in his clothes from the night before, the guy was naked on his back. And Karofsky of all people was moving over him, freezing and looking up when he noticed Finn standing there.

“What the fuck, Hudson!” Karofsky cried, getting up and pulling one of Puck’s sheets around his waist.

Puck sighed and flopped back against his bed, muttering, “Finn, you cock block.”

“Sorry!” Finn cried, throwing up his hands. “I didn’t expect to find anyone here. And really? Karofsky?”

“He _was_ rocking my world, douche,” Puck sighed, sitting up and pulling on his boxers. “Can we talk about this some other time?”

“No!” Karofsky shouted, before lowering his voice and repeating, “No! I want your word that you won’t tell anyone, Hudson! Give me your fucking word!”

“ _This_ is why you drove Kurt out of school?” Finn fumed, refusing to be intimidated by Karofsky’s glare. “Because of you, he went off to his new school and his new boyfriend and I think it’s only fair that I get some payback for all that! I lost my boyfriend because of you!”

“You…?” Karofsky asked, looking to Puck for confirmation and Puck nodded. “You and Kurt … were _together_?”

“Yes!” Finn cried. “But now he’s living at his new school and sleeping with someone else and on the weekends I have to pretend I’m the loving brother I’ve always been. It’s not fucking fair!”

“Boys!” Puck cut in, standing up and putting a hand on both Finn’s and Dave’s shoulders. “There’s too much yelling and not enough fucking. It’s not helping my hangover any. So yes, Finn likes cock and he’s mad Kurt is gone. Yes, Karofsky likes cock and he’s mad Kurt doesn’t love him, even though he treated the guy like shit. I like cock and I’m not getting any at the moment. There’s something wrong with this picture.”

“What…” Karofksy asked, pulling his sheet tighter, but pulling his eyes away from Finn, “…what are you suggesting, Noah?”

A smile spread across Puck’s face, his eyeteeth showing as he said, “I’ve always wanted a three-way. C’mon. It’ll be fun. Finn won’t have such blue balls and you’re never this bitchy _after_ you get laid, Dave. I promise, it’ll be worth it.”

What surprised Finn the most wasn’t how quickly and easily he fell back into a physical relationship with Puck, it was how much chemistry he had with Dave.It was like an instant spark, all that history and drama melting together until all three of them were panting and satisfied.

“Yeah,” Puck mused as he traced lines in the come on Finn’s stomach, “I think this could work.”

**88**

“Blaine Anderson, I _hate_ you,” Kurt cried into his phone, punching the button to hang up as he marched into the house. You’d think after that beautiful going-away song, Blaine would have been able to handle going to different schools, but no. Not long after Kurt had transferred back to McKinley, Jeff saw Blaine kissing some older boy at the mall. Kurt wouldn’t have believed it if Jeff hadn’t sent a picture of it happening. He was only hours away from asking Blaine to the prom when he got the text.

So mad he could practically feel the steam coming out of his ears, Kurt stomped up the stairs and knocked on Finn’s door, hoping it wasn’t too much to ask for a conversation. It probably was, wasn’t it? Kurt had to knock a second time before Finn cleared his throat and called, “Yeah? Come in.”

“Finn, I…” Kurt stopped when he saw David Karofsky sitting on the floor of Finn’s room, a video game controller in one hand and his chest rising and falling rapidly like he was out of breath. What kind of athlete got winded from playing video games? But then he saw the ruddy blush across Finn’s face and that guilty look and Kurt knew something was going on. “Seriously?” he asked, knowing he had no right to cry over this, but unable to keep it from happening. “God, Finn! I can’t believe you!”

“No, wait, Kurt!” Finn called, following Kurt back into his room and closing the door behind them. “You broke up with me, remember? You can’t dictate who I see anymore.”

“I know!” Kurt cried, sitting down heavily on his bed. “I know that, Finn. I’m just surprised and upset about this,” he shoved his cell phone in Finn’s face to show him the picture of Blaine, “and now I come home to find you with _Karofsky_! It’s … it’s shocking, is what it is.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but it’s all really new. I mean, Puck and I got him to go along with Santana’s anti-bullying thing so we could get you back. We’re keeping him in line, Kurt.”

“We?” Kurt asked, and Finn got this surprised look on his face, like maybe he’d said too much. “Puck knows about Karofsky?”

“They’ve been on and off since, like, summer,” Finn admitted.

“And right now they’re off?” Kurt guessed, watching Finn’s face and knowing that no, Puck and Karofsky were still together. “What’s going on?”

“We’re all sort of seeing each other,” Finn admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “Like, for sex and stuff. But it’s more than that, it’s … like this weird relationship thing. No one else knows.”

“I see,” Kurt nodded, wondering when Lima had gotten so gay. Well, he knew about Finn and Karofsky, he should have anticipated a relationship between them. He hadn’t known Puck was anything other than a boy who had experimented with Finn when they were both young and decided he was all about chasing skirts. But then an image of the three of them flitted through his head and Kurt couldn’t figure out whether he was angry, depressed, or more than a little turned on. “No, I get it. You’re all in the closet together. How nice for you.”

“Kurt-” Finn tried, frowning when Kurt pushed him gently toward the door. “Kurt, please don’t be mad.”

“Get out,” Kurt sighed, pushing Finn until he was in the hallway. “I need time to process, Finn. You go back to making out or whatever with your non-boyfriend.”

**88**

Kurt’s mind began to change about Karofsky when he broke down crying after escorting Kurt to French class and apologized. Maybe it wasn’t so weird that he and Finn actually felt something for each other. David was very conflicted, but inside he was a good guy. Kurt actually began to feel a little jealous.

But he was alone now and it was all his fault. He dumped Finn because he thought he’d have greener pastures with Blaine, only to find out Blaine wasn’t exactly who he said he was. Kurt pulled himself together and went to the prom with Brittany anyway, as friends. He wore his fabulous kilt and blushed when Finn whispered in his ear how good he looked, just before the tall boy got kicked out for starting a fight with Jesse St. James.

Kurt won Prom Queen.

“Dude,” Puck cried as he ran into the hallway after Kurt. “Hummel, stop!”

“What?” Kurt blubbered as he turned around, his face covered in tears. “What do you want from me, Puckerman? I thought things had changed, I thought nobody cared anymore, but they were just too ashamed to hate out loud anymore, so they did it by secret ballot. You’re _right_ to stay in the closet.”

“You really believe that?” Puck asked, glaring at Kurt. “ _You_? Dude, your closet was like made of glass or something. You couldn’t hide no matter how much you tried and now you’re out and that’s great. But for me and for Dave and Finn? It’s easy to stay closeted and at the same time, it’s so, so difficult, you know? Finn hated not being there for you in public. I hate having to ignore Dave during school. I hate not being able to kiss Finn when he does something dorky. Believe me, you don’t have it any easier.”

Kurt pursed his lips and really looked at Puck for a few moments, trying to work out what the boy’s angle might be. When he couldn’t guess, Kurt asked, “Why are you out here, talking to me? What do you want me to do?”

“I don’t fucking know,” Puck sighed, rubbing his face with one hand. “All I know is that Finn loves you and Dave loves you and they’re my boys. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t come out here and talk to you when they couldn’t?”

“Mr. Puckerman?” Kurt asked with a watery smile, wiping away a few last tears. “Am I seeing a soft and gooey center inside your dangerous, but loveable miscreant façade?”

“No,” Puck insisted with a little bit of a pout that made Kurt chuckle. If Puck could do the right thing and come after Kurt, be the kind of friend that cared about his teammates and the people his boyfriends cared about, Kurt could do the right thing, too.

A slow smile spreading across his face, Kurt decided, “I’m gonna go back in there and get coroneted. I’m going to show them that it doesn’t matter if they’re yelling at me or whispering behind my back. They can’t touch me. They can’t touch _us_.”

“Alright, Kurt!” Puck grinned, chivalrously handing over his pocket square, probably because Kurt looked a wreck. “Way to be badass. Maybe you do this and I think about coming out as bi. Maybe.”

Kurt took the offered cloth and chuckled, dabbing his eyes and wiping his nose before pocketing the square, sure Puck wouldn’t want it back until after it’d been laundered. “Alright, here I go.”

“Hey,” Puck said softly, stopping Kurt with a hand on his arm, “think I could get a kiss from the Prom Queen? It’d make my night.”

Kurt laughed again and nodded, letting Puck press a soft, but dry, kiss to his lips before he stepped back and took a deep breath. Sure now that he wasn’t just doing this for himself, but that he was doing it for everyone at McKinley who had ever been bullied or made fun of, Kurt walked as gracefully as he could manage up to the dais.

**88**

Dave couldn’t believe it when Kurt came back to prom. He was tougher than the entire football team combined. He just walked right up there and let Figgins put that crown on his head, saying something into the mic that Dave didn’t understand, but made the crowd applaud. Fuck, that was hot.

Kurt was like, everything Dave wanted, and some stuff he wanted to be. He was awesome and when Figgins pushed the two of them toward the dance floor, Dave didn’t care about everyone watching them. He didn’t care about his reputation, or even what Finn and Puck would think when they found out. The music started and Dave pulled Kurt into a dance, swaying back and forth with him, holding him close.

“I didn’t think you would dance with me,” Kurt admitted once they’d settled on a rhythm. “I mean, you want everyone to think-”

“I don’t care what they think,” Dave insisted, catching Kurt’s eye and holding it for a long moment. “Not after you come in here and take that crown like you deserve it. I don’t want to disappoint you anymore.”

“Well this is a good start,” Kurt smiled, and Dave felt like he could get lost in that smile for hours, days even. “But you’ve got a lot more making up to do.”

Dave thought he heard someone mutter a slur next to them, but he blocked it out, taking his hand from Kurt’s and moving it to the boy’s chin. “Can I…?” He asked, pulling Kurt’s chin up an inch or so.

Kurt nodded in his grip and Dave took what he’d figured out months and months ago he really wanted. This wasn’t a stolen make-out session with Finn. This wasn’t a heated, desperate fuck with Noah. This was a kiss, pure and simple, done in public, where everyone could see. Prom-night magic.

As their kiss broke and Kurt met Dave’s eyes again, the shorter boy asked, “What about Puck and Finn?”

“I was thinking,” Dave admitted, pulling Kurt closer against him. How many nights had he sat up, thinking about this very situation, dreaming it would happen? “You and Finn would still be together if it wasn’t for me, right?”

“Maybe,” Kurt allowed with a nod.

“And you like Puck alright, don’t you?” Dave asked, not really knowing which side of the Puck-line Kurt was really going to fall down upon.

Kurt nodded and mumbled, “He’s growing on me.”

Dave sighed in relief and whispered in Kurt’s ear, “Maybe you and I could be the public face of the whole relationship. All of us, I mean. Together.”

Kurt shrugged noncommittally, which Dave should have seen coming. Not many people could make this whole multiple-partner relationship thing work, especially not in high school, but Dave really didn’t want to give up Puck, who tended to fall apart without Dave, despite his badass attitude, and he really didn’t want to give up Finn, either, because he was almost sure he was a little bit in love with the big idiot. Dave couldn’t choose.

“Give it a shot?” Dave suggested. “If you don’t want to, that’s cool. But, I mean, I _was_ with them first.”

Kurt nodded and as the dance stopped, he asked, “When?”

Dave spotted Puck across the crowd and took Kurt’s hand, saying, “C’mon. I’ll find out.” When they got close enough, Dave dropped Kurt’s hand and leaned in to ask in Puck’s ear, “You get that room for tonight?”

“You know it!” Puck smirked, giving Dave a fist bump and eyeing Kurt with a knowing leer. “Lemme just get rid of the beard and go find Finn.” He passed a keycard over to Dave and said in his ear, “Don’t get started without us, alright? Finn’ll get pissed.”

“Sure,” Dave nodded, reaching to take Kurt’s hand again and squeezing it. This was shaping up to be the best prom ever.

**88**

Puck hated the new school year. Kurt and Karofsky were out and everyone knew they’d been dating since Prom. Nobody knew he’d been fucking Dave for over a year. Because Puck was such a pussy, no one was going to recognize or congratulate him on the longest relationship Puck had ever been in. Plus, since Finn was Kurt’s step-brother, he could hang out with Kurt and Dave without it looking weird. Hell, he could hang out with just Dave and it didn’t look weird, now that they were “friends”.

Puck was stuck in the fucking shadows.

He wasn’t Finn’s best friend anymore, since that had become Karofsky, so he couldn’t be best friends with Dave. Kurt’s best friend was either Rachel or Mercedes, depending on the week, so there was no room there either. Finn still didn’t want to come out, because of the questions it would raise at home, so Puck couldn’t be Finn’s boyfriend. Even if he could, everyone would say that Finn was too good for him. Finn had both parents now, everyone loved him, people in school stood up and took notice of him. Puck was from a broken home on the wrong side of Lima Heights Adjacent.

He was nothing.

Puck had brought all of them together, one by one, and he was fucking nothing to them, except in private. Even then, Puck felt like he was missing out on all the inside jokes, all the little badges of a relationship that he should have had but didn’t. Sure he was getting laid, sure he’d admitted to Finn once or twice that okay, maybe he loved the big douche, and David too, and hell even Kurt, because that kid could scream, but that didn’t mean they had to love him back.

Puck wished he hadn’t been such a screw up in school. He wished he could have graduated early and hitched to New York to make it on his own, in a city that didn’t care that he fell in love with guys just as easily as with girls. He wished he could sing about his crazy relationship and how being left out of it made him feel, but he rarely had the privacy for such an indulgence.

Maybe he didn’t need to graduate. Maybe the glee club could win Nationals without him. Dave had joined because he got to spend more time with the three of them (or Kurt, if anyone asked), and he was just as good as Finn. Hell, he caught onto the dancing part quicker, so maybe he was better than Finn.

Puck was eighteen now. He could leave whenever he wanted, just walk away like none of it had ever happened. Finn and Kurt and Dave would all have each other. Nobody needed him.

**88**

“You guys?” Kurt asked one day when he, Dave and Finn were studying in the library. They’d invited Puck, but he’d said studying was for suckers.

“Yeah?” Finn asked, looking up from his history text book with that dopey expression on his face, like he needed to let everything, including his facial muscles, relax so that he could focus on sounding out the words. Kurt thought it was adorable.

Kurt waited until Dave was looking at him too, before leaning in and whispering, “Do you know what’s going on with Noah? Is it just me, or has he been more sullen than usual lately?”

“Yeah,” Finn sighed, starting a doodle in his notebook. “He shows up for our dates and stuff, but he hardly ever hangs out with us in school. Do you think he’s starting to get ashamed of what we have?”

“Not ashamed,” Dave chimed in, closing his Calc II book. “More, like, depressed or something. What’s he got to be depressed about?”

“I told him he’s going to get into one of the schools he’s applying for,” Kurt pointed out. “I mean, we all are. I don’t care what it takes, we’re moving to New York. All of us.”

Finn shook his head and shrugged before saying, “I wonder if we should do something nice for him? You know, show him we love him and all that good stuff. It always worked when Rachel was being moody.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Kurt nodded, sharing a fond smile with Dave, who nodded in agreement. “Something nice… We could get a hotel Saturday night. I’ve got some money saved up, and I know about that stash in your sock drawer, Finn.”

“Recreate prom night?” Finn asked, shivering in his chair.

“Even better,” Kurt insisted. “Because now we know we all love each other. If this can’t cheer him up, nothing will.”

Finn shivered again and said, “Mom and Burt are going away this weekend, remember? We won’t even have to go to a hotel.”

“Perfect,” Kurt sighed, grabbing Dave’s hand and squeezing it, loving that look of anticipation in his eyes.

**88**

  


 


	2. Trust (Four's Company, Too) 2 of 2

Puck was contemplating what to pack for his trip out of Lima when Finn showed up at his bedroom door.

"Hey, dude," Puck greeted him, not really feeling the kiss Finn dropped onto his lips.

"What are you up to?" Finn asked, trailing his fingers up and down Puck's arms like the bedroom door wasn't wide open.

Puck lied, "Nothing," and pulled away, flopping down onto his bed. "Why?"

"Why do you think?" Finn smirked, taking Puck's empty backpack and starting to fill it with clothes. What? Hudson wanted to help Puck along? Get him out of town even faster? "You're sleeping over this weekend. Burt and my Mom went to a wedding in Kansas City, so we've got the house to ourselves."

"And Dave's parents are just letting him sleep over with his boyfriend?" Puck asked, sure Finn was too stupid to think all this through.

"Dave told his dad he's staying here. He'll be here any minute."

Puck nodded. Okay, either Finn wasn't as dumb as he looked or he'd had help from Kurt planning this weekend.

"What if I had shit to do?" Puck asked, standing up and grabbing his bag out of the boy's hands. Seriously, who packed four pairs of boxers and no socks for a weekend?

Checking the doorway to make sure it was clear, Finn pulled Puck close and murmured in his ear, "Nothing's more important than this, Noah. Say you'll come be with us?"

Mouth going dry at the feel of Finn's breath against his ear, Puck sighed and nodded, turning away from Finn to repack his bag. He probably wouldn't need much in the way of clothing, but he at least had to convince his mom that he'd brought enough clean underwear and a sweater before she would let him leave the house. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea. One last, weekend-long hurrah before he left and had to find someone in New York to sex up.

Dave showed up when Puck was almost done packing, waving goodbye to his dad, who had apparently given him a ride over. With any luck, Mr. Karofsky wouldn't be back until Sunday afternoon.

When they got to Finn's house it was empty and dark, which was weird, since Carole always had this habit of leaving lights on all over the house. "Where's Kurt?" Puck asked as they invaded the living room, Puck and Dave dropping their bags.

"Getting supplies," Finn smiled, dropping down on the couch next to Puck and taking his hand, like they were boyfriends or something. "He should be back soon."

Dave sat on Puck's other side and suddenly he felt like he was in a jock sandwich, with both boys pressed close to him. Finn turned the TV to ESPN and squeezed Puck's hand, as if thanking him for being there. Well, that was a first.

Dave kicked off his shoes and threw an arm around Puck's shoulders. Damn, if this wasn't so nice, it'd feel claustrophobic. In any case, Puck was going to enjoy it while it lasted, because pretty soon they were going to forget about him again. Puck put his head on Dave's shoulder and watched the game.

Pretty soon Kurt came back with sandwiches and salads, as well as a mystery black bag that Puck was sure came from the porn shop on Main. Interesting. Puck would have paid to see Kurt browsing the shelves of a porn shop, his eyes probably bugging out at some of the crap in there. He supposed Kurt was the only one of them besides Puck that was eighteen and legally allowed in, though Puck had been using a fake ID to get in since he was fifteen and had started banging all those cougars.

Kurt sat on the floor at Puck's feet, which was weird enough because it was _the floor_ but also because there was an empty recliner just a few feet away. Puck tickled Kurt's side with his still-socked big toe, laughing with the others when Kurt got milk up his nose. "Jerk!" Kurt cried with a smile, wiping off his face before turning back to the TV. When Kurt was finished eating, he took one of Puck's legs over his shoulder and got rid of Puck's sock. Puck was sure he was in for a little revenge, but Kurt just smiled shyly over his shoulder and started giving Puck a foot massage. Oh, yeah. He could get used to this.

Before too long, Dave pulled Puck into a kiss and then another, and then they were making out as Kurt switched to Puck’s other foot and started giving it the same treatment as the first. Puck groaned into Dave’s mouth. God, if this was going to be Puck’s last weekend with his boys, it was off to a very good start.

Then a hand massaged Puck’s crotch, and he was pretty sure Finn was getting in on the action now. But it was weird, since everyone was paying attention to him. Usually when they all got it on – anything other than making out without everyone there was considered against the rules, not that it made Puck feel any better – they’d split off into pairs for awhile and then switch it up. Three-on-one was almost unheard of.

Puck wasn’t going to complain.

Dave broke away from the kiss and said, “C’mon. Let’s go to bed.”

**88**

Finn watched as Kurt and Dave each took one of Puck’s hands, leading them up toward Finn’s bedroom. He’d managed to convince his parents that since he was so tall, he needed a king-sized bed, and it really came in handy during times like this. Puck’s queen was barely enough room for the four of them, Kurt’s bed was a full and always covered with pillows, and Dave was still sleeping on the twin his dad had bought him in grade school. Getting together at Dave’s house was always a challenge, even though his dad was gone more often than not.

Finn followed behind the three of them, watching eagerly as Kurt took charge – like always – and ordered Puck to lie out on the bed. Dave kissed Puck again while Kurt took the boy’s shirt and Finn went straight for Puck’s belt. Out of all his boyfriends, Finn liked seeing Puck naked the best. Dave was hot, of course, and Kurt was beautiful, but Puck always owned it, owned his appearance in a shameless way that Finn was still trying to emulate.

It probably didn’t hurt that Puck was hung and damn well knew it.

When Puck broke away from Dave’s kiss to find himself naked and everyone else clothed, he pushed Dave away and asked softly, “What is this? Some sort of going away present?”

“What?” Finn asked, moving forward to sit next to Puck’s legs, putting one hand on Puck’s thigh, like that was going to hold him there.

“Yeah, what are you talking about, Noah?” Dave added, putting on hand on the side of Puck’s neck, below his ear. “Where are you going?”

Puck looked around at all three of them before shaking his head and looking up, like he was trying not to cry or something. Kurt made a soft noise of sympathy and flung his arms around Puck’s chest. He spoke softly into Puck’s shoulder, but loud enough that Finn could hear him. “Don’t you even _think_ about leaving us, Noah Puckerman. We love you. _I love you_. Surely you’re smart enough to see that.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Puck muttered, meeting Finn’s eye for a moment before looking away. “I mean, yeah, you guys are all I want, but there’s just… _more_ out there. Isn’t there?”

“No,” Finn insisted, moving right behind Kurt and throwing his arms around both of them, sighing when Dave joined in. “Puck, you belong with us. You’re coming to New York with us next year, too. I love you, dude, and if you leave, this whole thing falls apart.”

“Yeah,” Dave added, turning Puck’s head so he could kiss him again. “Baby, we need you. We’re going to show you how much.”

Finn and Kurt both made sounds of agreement and Puck sighed, falling back onto the mattress, one hand covering his eyes. Kurt lay out next to him, kissing one of the tears that rolled down from Puck’s eye.

Finn felt awful, this tight lump of guilt building in his chest and he wasn’t quite sure how to make it better. Tentatively, he put his hand over Puck’s heart, trying to make his oldest friend understand that this was real, as real as how Finn felt about Dave and definitely as real as how he felt about Kurt. Dave put his hand over Finn’s, pressing down just enough to make his presence known, while Kurt kissed Puck’s face and whispered in his ear.

**88**

Kurt had hoped he was wrong in thinking Puck felt unappreciated. He’d hoped he was wrong in thinking that Puck was close to pulling away for good. He hoped these tears were just temporary and that they could get back to being young and in love like they were during the summer.

“Noah,” Kurt whispered in his boyfriend’s ear, feeling Finn and then Dave move beside them. “You’re not allowed to think you’re unworthy. Understand? You’re the biggest badass in school and hotter than the sun. You know most of the girls and some of the guys drool over you all the time.”

Puck nodded, one of his tears falling onto Kurt’s hand.

“It’s not just because you’re attractive,” Kurt continued. “It’s not just because of your attitude. It’s because you’re an amazing, talented person, Noah. When I realized you loved me, I cried, remember?” Puck nodded again. “And it wasn’t because I was upset. I was bowled over by how much that meant to me. You don’t love easily, sweetheart,” Kurt sighed, kissing away another tear and smiling when Puck brushed the hair at the back of his head. “You don’t trust easily. But here you are, loving all three of us. Trusting all three of us. Can you let us do the same for you?”

“Can,” Puck croaked, clearing his throat before trying again. “Can things change? I mean, I’m ready to come out. I just don’t know how. I don’t know what good it’s going to do.”

“Yeah, baby,” Kurt nodded, looking back to where both Dave and Finn were running their hands over Puck’s sides, calming him as they leaned together, heads meeting in the middle. “Things can change. What do you think, Finn? Are you ready to be who Noah needs you to be?”

Finn looked dumbstruck and Kurt rolled his eyes, about to explain before Dave jumped in and did it for him. “Finn,” Dave said, his voice serious as they turned to look at each other. “You have to come out, too. You have to tell everyone that you and Noah are together. Can you do that for us?”

Finn took half a second before nodding enthusiastically. “Noah?” he grinned, leaning forward and climbing onto Puck. “Will you be my out-to-the-world boyfriend?”

Puck looked at Kurt briefly, until he nodded, and then surged forward, pulling Finn into a hard kiss, his eyes pressed tightly together and leaking a few more tears. Hopefully they would be the last.

Dave laughed a little and caught Kurt’s hand behind Puck’s back. “I think that’s a yes.”

“Fuck, yes,” Puck sighed as he and Finn parted, though he still held the tall boy close, like he never wanted to let go. “Dudes, I don’t even…”

Finn smiled at Puck, running one hand over his short hair as he said, “You don’t have to say anything, Noah. Just let us show you how much you mean to us.” And then Finn rolled his hips, making Puck gasp and then groan with a wicked smile.

Finally, Kurt thought, loosening his tie. All was close to being right with the world.

**88**

“Dave,” Kurt ordered as he undid the buttons on his shirt, “you should help Finn get undressed.”

Nodding, Dave did as he was told, watching eagerly as Finn and Puck kissed and moved together. He had to get them to stop so he could pull Finn’s shirt up over his head, but neither seemed to mind too much. On the other side of the pair, Kurt stripped himself down carefully, making sure his clothes landed somewhere clean. Dave always loved watching the ripple of Kurt’s light ab muscles when he tilted his hips up to take off his pants. It was almost as hot as watching Finn and Puck trying to fuck each other through Finn’s jeans.

Running his hands down Finn’s chest, Dave managed to pop open Finn’s fly and pull down the zipper before helping the guy up onto his feet so he could kick his pants and underwear away. Then, Dave let Kurt help get him undressed and finally they were all naked – or close to. Kurt liked wearing his boxer-briefs until the last possible moment. Dave had told him a hundred thousand times that he was beautiful and didn’t need to cover up, but it was also one of those quirks he’d grown to love about the boy.

Kissing Dave quickly, Kurt got up from the bed and fetched that black bag he’d come home with, saying as he went, “Finn, on your back. Noah, on your knees, if you’d be so kind.”

They weren’t really paying attention, so Dave sort of manhandled them both until they were where Kurt wanted them. He’d seriously give Kurt, or any one of his boyfriends, anything they wanted – even if it was something impossible, like George Washington’s armpit hair.

Dave didn’t know what Kurt was planning, but he couldn’t help but cut in on Finn, laying down beside him and pulling Puck over so he could get a taste of that magical tongue, too. While they were kissing, Puck jumped in surprise, making Dave ask, “What, baby?”

“Kurt,” Puck laughed, looking over his shoulder. Dave looked back too and Kurt gave them an innocent smile as he poured more lube down Puck’s crack. Puck let his head fall to the pillows between Dave and Finn, moaning loudly as Kurt worked his magic.

After a few moments, Kurt said roughly, “Dave? Could you give me a hand?”Finn and Puck had gone back to kissing lazily, so Dave ran a hand down Puck’s back as he moved closer to Kurt.

“What do you need, babe?” Dave asked, nibbling Kurt’s shoulder, since he always had the tastiest skin.

“You finish this,” Kurt insisted, taking his fingers out of Puck and wiping his hands on a towel he must have put out. “I’ve got a few other things to take care of.”

Kurt crumpled up and threw the empty bag off the bed as Dave took his place behind Puck’s ass. Damn, it was a nice ass – the one that had been Dave’s undoing. He took a little more of the lube Kurt had bought (vanilla flavored) and worked one of his fingers into that tight heat.

God, Dave hoped Kurt let him top Puck. He couldn’t stand the guy not knowing how privileged Dave felt every time he got to do it, every time he got to make the sex-shark of McKinley feel that good.

**88**

Puck was starting to feel he’d been wrong. Maybe the guys did need him. Maybe they needed his awesome making-out skills and his sculpted ass and his giant cock. Maybe they needed his tongue and his fingers – Puck shivered when Kurt sucked one of them into his mouth, tonguing the rough pad and hollowing out his cheeks.

“Fuck,” he groaned against Finn’s mouth, relishing the feel of fingers in his ass and wet heat around his finger. “Kurt, baby, what are you doing?”

Kurt let go of Puck’s finger with a pop and murmured, “Whatever you want.” He moved in closer and pet Finn’s head lovingly before whispering in Puck’s ear, “What’s it gonna be, Noah? Do we take turns showing you how much we love you, or do you want us all at once?”

“All at once?” Puck asked, very surprised. They’d only done that once, to Kurt, and it hadn’t worked out very well, but while it had worked, Kurt had looked like he’d enjoyed it. “Fuck, yeah, all at once.”

“Good choice,” Kurt replied, biting Puck’s ear softly before calling out, “Dave, switch to Finn, if that’s agreeable?”

Finn nodded and Dave’s hands left Puck, but it was alright, because Kurt pulled Puck to the side, on top of him, and kissed Puck hard and hungry. Puck didn’t know how Kurt did it, but every time he kissed the guy it felt like Kurt was begging for it – begging to be fucked, begging to be touched, begging to be allowed in. Puck let his hands roam over Kurt’s body, squeezing his hips, scratching dull nails over his nipples, grasping Kurt’s shoulders to hold him close as their bodies rubbed together.

Breaking away to breathe for a moment, Kurt demanded, “Say you’ll never think about leaving again. Say you could never give this up. Say you could never break our hearts, Puckerman.”

“Never,” Puck agreed, kissing Kurt one last time as Finn pulled him away, begging for some attention of his own.

“Please, Noah,” Finn begged, pulling Puck close with one leg and tilting his hips upward. “Please, fuck me.”

Puck thrust his hips, unable to deny Finn anything when he asked it in that low, pleading voice, and found Finn sopping wet and open. Needing a better angle, Puck sat back on his haunches and pulled Finn up to rest on his thighs, working his cock in as best he could. Dave’s hands were on his back and Kurt’s eyes were on the point where Puck was desperately trying to join with Finn and Puck decided, yeah, okay. He’d been wrong.

**88**

Finn almost cried when Puck finally got himself seated inside Finn’s body, and it wasn’t because it hurt. Finn bottomed often enough that almost nothing they did anymore hurt. No, he almost cried because of the guilt he felt flushing away as Puck looked at him like that, like they were really in love and always had been since that first time in his room when they were fourteen. Finn never meant for Puck to feel anything else, and he should have known. He should have seen Puck withdrawing before Kurt did, and before Dave either. Puck had been Finn’s best friend since they were kids, and now they got to share this, too.

Finn almost felt like he didn’t deserve it, especially not when Dave moved in behind Puck and started thrusting for the both of them. Finn never wanted it to end.

**88**

Kurt watched as Dave eased into Puck, kissing the back of Puck’s neck and holding on tight with one arm around his chest. As soon as they were moving together fairly well with Finn, Kurt caught Puck’s lips in a kiss to get his attention. When Puck opened his eyes to look at him, Kurt asked, “You ready, sweetheart?”

“Yeah,” Puck panted, licking his lips. “Gimme what you got, baby.”

Kurt stood up and balanced himself against the headboard, crouching down low enough that Puck could reach his dick without straining. “Please, Noah,” he sighed, watching as Puck leaned forward as best he could with his lower body still rocking in time with Dave’s thrusts. Mouth open and tongue out, Puck looked so fucking hot and so eager that Kurt couldn’t stop himself from helping out and thrusting his hips forward.

After a second of surprised hesitation, Puck began licking and sucking, tearing a litany of moans from Kurt’s throat. Below him, Finn cursed softly, “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” and tugged on his own cock. Behind Puck, Dave looked up, meeting Kurt’s eyes as he bit his bottom lip and wiped the sweat from his brow, never stopping the insistent thrust of his hips. The movement worked its way up into the rhythm of Puck’s bobs up and down on Kurt’s dick and Kurt knew he wasn’t going to last much longer.

Finn apparently agreed.

“Shittttt!” he groaned, pressing his face against Kurt’s leg as if that would help him get through it.

**88**

Puck had never been this over stimulated before, and he loved it. He loved how everyone was paying attention to him, depending on him to make them feel good, to make them come. When Finn’s orgasm hit, Puck pressed into him deeply, helping him ride it out even as Dave continued fucking him from behind. Kurt came next, sighing and filling Puck’s mouth. Kurt always tasted awesome and it made Puck groan as he swallowed, thrusting as best he could into Finn’s tight ass until he came as well. Dave followed right after him, holding Puck so tightly he could hardly breathe and huffing loudly against Puck’s shoulder.

As they all collapsed into a boneless heap of limbs and skin, Puck nestled his head against someone and sighed. “Thanks you guys,” he whispered, tightening his hand when someone took it. “I love you.”

A chorus of, “I love you too,” followed and Puck decided if he could get his brain to stop being an insecure douche about all of this, he could probably be truly happy for the first time in his life.

The first step came on Sunday evening, when Finn invited him out to dinner with his parents, Kurt, and Dave, and introduced Puck as his boyfriend. Carole and Burt shared a look before shrugging at each other, Carole smiling and saying, “Whatever makes you happy, sweetheart.”

Finn took Puck’s hand in his and held onto it tightly, setting them both on top of the table for everyone to see. Under the table, Dave’s hand found his, interlacing their fingers and from the foot of the table, Kurt winked quickly with a fond smile. Puck smiled back and wondered if he could get away with ordering the most expensive thing on the menu, or if fucking both their sons was more than he should reasonably expect from Mr. and Mrs. H.

He decided to go with a burger. You could never go wrong with a burger.


	3. Responsibility (1 of 4)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>   Puck thought it was pretty awesome, living in New York with his three boyfriends – right up until the day he found out he was pregnant and had no idea which of them was the father. ****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for[ this prompt](http://puckurt.livejournal.com/970926.html?thread=24077230#t24077230) by[](http://ice-whisper.livejournal.com/profile)[ **ice_whisper**](http://ice-whisper.livejournal.com/)  as a sequel to [Trust (Four’s Company, Too)](http://pterawaters.livejournal.com/17831.html) ****

** Part I **

Puck and his boys had lived in New York for a year and a half when Puck got sick. One morning he bolted out of bed, kicking Dave and just about pushing Kurt to the floor in his haste to get to the bathroom before he vomited. Christ, that was unpleasant.

"Noah?" Kurt asked from the doorway as he pulled on his silky robe, "are you okay?"

"Do I look okay?" Puck scoffed, making a noise of displeasure when Kurt tried to move closer. "No, babe. It's probably a stomach bug. You should stay back."

Kurt nodded and disappeared before returning with a pair of sweats, a pair of boxers, and Noah's old McKinley football t-shirt. "Here," he said, setting the clothes on the counter by the door. "Get dressed and I'll go down to the shop and get you a few things. No, don't argue with me."

Puck sighed and nodded, carefully standing up and pulling on the clothes Kurt had brought him. He actually felt a little better now that his stomach was empty, so he shuffled through the apartment and into the second bedroom. The room was mostly there for show, so that he, Finn, Dave, and Kurt didn't have to answer awkward questions about who slept where. To the outside world, they were two couples: Dave and Kurt, and Finn and Noah. In private, they all slept in the king bed in Puck's and Finn's room. It made or fewer hurt feelings if they all cuddled together at night, even if it was a little bit of a squeeze fitting everyone in when Finn sprawled out the way he did and Dave started snoring.

The second bedroom was where Kurt's wardrobe and vanity lived. The dude could spend hours in here, working on his appearance, trying on different outfits. Puck hoped be wasn't contaminating them as he crawled into the cold, used-maybe-once bed and settled down. He was asleep when Kurt came back.

Waking Puck with a gentle shake, Kurt said, "Here are some things for you, Noah. Try to drink the juice and if that stays down, move on to the crackers, okay? I have to go to work this morning and both David and Finn have class. Will you be okay here until lunch?"

"I'm actually feeling a lot better," Puck decided. "Maybe I just over-ate last night or something."

"Honey," Kurt said, pressing the back of his hand against Puck's forehead, "you barely ate anything. You wouldn't touch the fried chicken that Finn brought home – despite my protests that he stop trying to poison us."

"He brought you something grilled," Puck pointed out. "Maybe I'm just sick of him bringing his work home. It's bad enough he smells like fryer grease every night."

"True," Kurt conceded with a shrug. "Listen. You've been off your game for a few days now, Noah, so I made an appointment for you at your student health center while you were sleeping. You need to be there at two. Can you handle going alone? I’ve got a test I can’t miss."

"Dude, I'm fine," Puck insisted, getting out of bed and promptly getting dizzy and sitting back down.

"You're not fine," Kurt said with a roll of his eyes before yelling, "David!"

Dave stuck his head through the door a few moments later and said, "Yeah?"

"Is there any possible way you could take Noah to the doctor at two?" Puck watched as Kurt gave Dave a pouty, pleading look and Dave nodded, happy to please. Kurt got away with almost anything, using that look, and Puck had to admit, he wasn’t immune to its effects.

“Yeah,” Dave nodded. “I can miss class no problem. I’ll text my friend Dan, so he knows to take notes for me. What’s wrong, anyway?”

“Noah doesn’t feel well,” Kurt explained, and Noah had to frown at that.

“I’m sitting right here, dudes,” he pointed out with exasperation. “Do I really have to go to the doctor? It’s not like I’m dying. I just caught the flu or something. It’s been making the rounds at the Y, since the kids aren’t real good at keeping their snot to themselves.”

“That’s disgusting,” Kurt muttered with a disturbed twist of his lips. “I’m so glad I don’t work with children. In any case, you’re going, and that’s final.”

“Shit,” Puck sighed, looking over at Dave, who seemed to be in agreement with Kurt. God, it was like having three wives, being in this relationship. At least Puck got laid. A lot. “Fine. But someone bring me my phone. I’ve gotta call in sick to work and email my professor. I’m so glad I’m only half-time this semester.”

Dave went off to get the phone and Kurt set out a bottle of juice on the nightstand before gathering his things for the day. Before long, everyone had wished Puck well from the door of his sick room (Finn gave him this dopey look of sympathy that made Puck snigger into the back of his hand) and he was left alone in the apartment. Puck was rarely truly alone anymore. Sure, sometimes he would retreat into his headphones and his lyric book, sitting in his corner of the living room, but usually Finn was there too, struggling through his homework; or Dave would be building some machine on the coffee table; or Kurt would be watching a fashion show on the TV, curled up with one of his girlfriends (usually Rachel).

Very rarely was Puck actually alone for more than the time it took to take a dump.

It was kind of eerie. Puck didn’t like it.

**88**

When Puck went to the doctor, they looked him over and took his blood and told him to get some rest. He knew it was a waste of time. When he and Dave got home, Puck was starving and managed to talk Dave into getting him a bunch of things from the deli down the street. Halfway through his brisket sandwich, he caught a whiff of the roast chicken Dave had gotten for himself and promptly lost his stomach contents to the toilet again.

“Fuck this,” he muttered, nodding to Dave in thanks when the guy handed him a cool glass of water.

“Kurt’s going to kill me for letting you eat something other than clear liquids and crackers,” Dave sighed, sitting down on the floor next to Puck and rubbing his back. “I’m sorry you’re sick, babe.”

“Not as sorry as I am,” Puck sighed, burping and grimacing at the taste. “You’re going to get sick, too, if you sit here with me.”

“Nah,” Dave replied, giving Puck a smile. “I’ve got, like, the Superman of immune systems. Besides, I don’t want you going through this alone.”

Puck dropped his head onto Dave’s shoulder and tried not to think about how sick he still felt.

**88**

The next morning, Puck got a call, “Mr. Puckerman? This is Dr. Guiess, from Student Health. I’ve got your test results back. Are you someplace where you can talk freely?”

Puck was at home alone again, so he said, “Sure. What’s wrong?”

“Well,” the doctor began, a little hesitant. Shit, this was bad wasn’t it? Puck was going to die. “One of your tests came back positive – the pregnancy test.”

“What?” Puck cried, more shocked than anything else. “But I mean, I’m not … I got tested, like almost two years ago, when my boyfriend and I wanted to go off condoms. It came back negative. All the tests came back negative! And I swear, I only watched _When Harry Met Sally_ once all the way through!”

“Mr. Puckerman, I know this is a shock,” the doctor said calmly, “but false negatives on the carrier test do happen.”

“What if the test now is wrong?” Puck asked. “That happens, too, doesn’t it?”

“It does,” the doctor replied. “We’ll draw another blood sample in a week, if you’d like, and double check. I’d also like you and your boyfriend, if at all possible, to come in and talk about how to proceed from here and what all your options are.”

Shit. Puck’s boyfriend, as in _singular_. He couldn’t exactly show up with three boyfriends, now could he? But any one of them could be the other father. Fucking hell, what a mess.

“Mr. Puckerman? Noah?” the doctor broke into his thoughts. “I’m here to help you through this, Noah. We’ll do whatever’s right for you and your education.”

Puck laughed. He couldn’t help it. He was the one working the most hours, only taking two night classes, because they all needed the money and Puck’s part-time job paid the best. Besides, it wasn’t like he had a great academic future, like Dave or Kurt, or had gotten involved in student government, like Finn. He liked his job at the Y, keeping an eye on the kids while their parents worked out, teaching them games and gymnastics and things. It was fun. It was over, if he was having a baby.

Holy crap, he was having a baby!

“Can I check with my boyfriend and get back to you on a time that works?” Puck asked, rubbing his temples at the sudden headache that had bloomed behind his eyes.

“Of course,” Dr. Guiess agreed. “You can this number back and talk to one of the staff to make an appointment. Just ask to see me, or my colleague, Gina Wilson. We’ll get you through this, Noah.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Puck muttered, hanging up the phone. God, he couldn’t sit on this all day at home alone. He needed to tell his boys before it got too difficult to tell. He just hoped this wasn’t going to be the thing that tore them apart.

 _Come home. Need you now_. He texted to all three, trying not to let his head explode and trying not to think about how nice it would be to hold a baby in his arms again.

**88**

Finn was worried. Noah had been sick – he _never_ got sick – and it was freaking him out. What if something bad happened to him? What if he died? What if he got cancer and his eyebrows fell out and Finn had to call Santana and ask her how to pencil them back on? Wait, Kurt would probably know how to do that, right?

And now Finn had to leave a student council meeting early, because Noah needed him at home. Because he was dying. “I’m sorry, Vicki,” Finn pleaded, trying not to make the student council president feel like she was a foot and a half shorter than him, even if she was, “but I’ve got an emergency at home. I _have_ to go.”

“Fine,” Vicki sighed, “but this isn’t helping your chances of being named my running mate in this spring’s campaign.”

“Noted,” Finn replied, before practically running to the subway stop and almost getting on the express train that would totally take him way past home and not help with filling Noah’s request. What if he was bleeding on the bathroom floor, like he had Ebola or Syphilis or one of those other scary diseases? Wouldn’t he call 911? What if his brain was too addled to think of that?

When he got home, Kurt and Puck were sitting on the living room couch together and Finn asked, “What is it? Are you dying?”

“No,” Noah shook his head, sort of curled in on himself. “But we’re waiting for everyone before I say. Dave’s got a test he has to finish, I guess.”

Finn nodded. Dave took these really difficult tests about math and engineering and physics. Finn took tests about the Civil War, which was a lot cooler because things got blown up all the time and people back then were just like people now, only with fewer showers.

Not knowing what else to do, he sat down next to Noah on the couch and took one of the guy’s hands in his own, giving Kurt a look over Noah’s head, wanting to know what Kurt knew. Since he shrugged, Finn guessed he didn’t know anything, either. Not knowing what else to do, Finn hugged Noah close and said, “It’s going to be fine, dude. You’ll see.”

Puck gave this laugh that sounded more like a scoff and Finn hugged him tighter.

**88**

Kurt was worried. Things had been going so well here in New York, he should have known something was going to go badly. He just never thought it was going to be an illness, much less that Noah would be the one get ill. He’d always seemed so … strong. So confident. Except for a few lapses and moments of insecurity, Puck had always felt like a constant. Sometimes Dave got angry, especially if someone said something to them on the street, and had to go out by himself and chill. Sometimes Finn forgot to call to say he was going to be home late and ended up on pseudo-dates with people because he didn’t know how to draw boundaries. Sometimes Kurt got into conversations about theater and art and music and wondered, what if.

Puck always seemed grateful, solid. He took on more hours at work so that Kurt could take an unpaid internship and Dave could focus on graduating early. He told Finn when the guy was being an idiot and hugged Kurt when his competitive program was getting too stressful and joked around with Dave about sports. He was irreplaceable.

Eventually, Dave came crashing through the front door, swinging his bag down next to the pile of shoes and throwing his coat on top of it. Kurt bit his tongue, knowing this was not the moment to bitch about tidiness. Noah could be dying, even if he insisted that he wasn’t.

“What’s going on?” Dave asked, breathless like he’d run from the subway station. “What’s the emergency?”

Kurt looked to Noah, who shook his head and put it down in his hands. “It’s so fucked up, you guys,” he mumbled.

“What?” Finn asked, hugging Noah closer. “You know you can tell us anything, dude.”

Dave kneeled down in front of Puck and drew his hands away from his face. “Noah? Please?”

Taking a deep breath, Puck let it out, sort of groaning while he did, “I’m pregnant.”

Kurt’s heart stopped. This was … This was … “But the tests we all took at the clinic … back in senior year …”

“Came up negative,” Puck nodded, burying his face again as best he could. “The doctor says they get false negatives sometimes.”

“It does explain your symptoms,” Kurt nodded, pressing a kiss to Noah’s shoulders before he looked over at the other two. “I guess we have to decide what to do.”

“Who’s the father?” Finn asked. “I mean, it could be any one of us, right?”

“Does it really matter?” Kurt shot back, putting his arm around Noah. “We all love Noah.”

Dave stood up, his hands in his hair as he said, “It’s going to matter. It’s going to matter a lot when the kid comes and we have to put just one other name on that birth certificate. What if, like, social services or whatever finds out about us? They’ll take the kid away.”

“We’re not even sure we’re _having_ the kid,” Noah growled, looking up at Dave with a dark fire in his eyes. Kurt hated this side of Noah – scared and dangerous Noah. “So don’t get your fucking panties in a twist. It could be a mistake.”

“We shouldn’t,” Finn said softly beside them. “Have it. I mean, we’re all right in the middle of working toward our futures. Throwing a baby in the mix doesn’t seem like-“

“We can’t just-!” Dave cried over him. “I mean, it’s so _wrong_!”

“Hey!” Kurt cried, getting everyone’s attention. “It affects all our lives, but it should be Noah’s decision. He’s the one who might be pregnant here. He’s the one who has to deal with the consequences and we’re the ones who have to support him no matter what! Got it?”

Finn and Dave nodded, though Dave looked really unhappy about it. Kurt couldn’t say he was thrilled either. This had never been in the cards for them. Kids were always a way-off-in-the-future-maybe sort of thing. Kurt knew Finn wanted kids, and he was pretty sure Noah did as well. Kurt had always felt indifferent about it. Babies could be cute, but he had big Broadway dreams. If Noah had a baby, how would that change things? How would that change _them_?

After a long moment of silence, Noah cleared his throat. He was still staring at the floor in front of Dave’s shoes as he said, “If it’s real, I want to keep it. I want to be a dad.”

It was going to be a lot more difficult than getting rid of it, but Kurt couldn’t bring himself to even try to change Noah’s mind. “Okay,” he whispered, kissing Noah’s cheek. Looking up at Dave and then Finn, Kurt glared and threatened, “Okay?”

Dave snorted, but nodded and breathed a big sigh. Finn smiled and turned Noah’s face to kiss him on the lips. “Okay, baby.”

“It’s going to be okay,” Kurt added, getting up to hug Dave, because he looked like he needed it. “We’ll manage. And at least we know one thing…”

“What?” Dave asked. “That we all love each other?”

“That our kid is going to be freaking gorgeous,” Kurt corrected, glad to see Noah laugh a little and lean further into Finn’s embrace.

**88**

Puck’s results were confirmed when he went into Student Health to see Dr. Guiess, Finn holding onto his hand tightly. Puck kind of wished he could have brought Kurt, because he would have known what questions to ask, but Finn was his only boyfriend as far as anyone but the four of them knew. Parents were going to get involved eventually and Puck really hoped that the kid looked like Finn, because otherwise he was going to have some interesting explaining to do.

The doctor went through a family history questionnaire, and about halfway through, Puck sighed and said, “Okay, here’s the deal, doc. You’ve got to keep whatever I tell you to yourself, right?”

“Our conversation is protected by law, yes,” he nodded and Finn gave Puck a curious, almost afraid look.

Puck nodded and admitted, “Finn might not be the other dad. We’ve got this standing … thing with another couple. Either one of them could be it.”

“You’ve had unprotected sex with these men?” the doctor asked, his voice dripping with disappointment or something.

“Hey, it was two close friends and we all tested clean. Supposedly none of us were carriers, either. I’m just telling you this so you know to look for other stuff. I want to make sure my kid is alright.”

“Okay,” the doctor sighed, opening a file cabinet and taking out a stapled packet of paper. “Take this to your friends and have them fill it out as well. I’m assuming you’ll want to have a paternity test done?”

“Not really,” Finn said, wincing when Puck gave him a look. “I mean, I don’t need one.”

“That’s…” the doctor said, confused, “…very _enlightened_ of you.”

“Whatever,” Puck groaned. “Can we move on? I wanna know how long I can keep working and stuff. This guy’s in school full time and we don’t have a lot of money.”

The doctor pulled another packet of papers from his filing cabinet and said, “Here. This is information about your pregnancy, and here is a link to a state program for auxiliary insurance for you and the baby. It’ll cover what your student insurance doesn’t.”

Puck took the packets and nodded. He didn’t have student insurance. Technically he was still on his mom’s plan through work. Fuck, he was going to have to tell her sooner, rather than later, when all those bills started showing up at her house.

**88**

Dave wasn’t sure what to think about Puck being pregnant. He hadn’t even known there were guys who _could_ get pregnant until Kurt had made them all get tested senior year. This wasn’t where he wanted his life to go. He wanted to get his degree and get a job at a kickass engineering firm so that they had the money for Kurt to follow his Broadway dreams. He liked the friends he’d made here at school and wanted to still be able to go out with them on the weekends. Dave couldn’t even drink legally yet.

He wasn’t ready to be a dad.

Dads were strict and had their lives put together already. They had good jobs and good cars and houses in the suburbs. They wore ties to work and drank fancy wine instead of cheap beer. They didn’t have sex with more than one person. Dads weren’t people like David Karofsky.

He didn’t even know if it was his kid. Sure, he topped Puck more often than Finn or Kurt did, but it was possible one of the others had done it. What if the kid had brown eyes and Finn’s nose? What if it had Kurt’s cheekbones? What if Dave saw it resembling one of the others and couldn’t bring himself to care about the kid? What if he started resenting Puck for getting pregnant in the first place? What if seeing him all blown up with a baby in his belly made Dave lose interest? Puck was the first guy – the first _person_ – Dave had ever kissed. He was the capstone in Dave’s answer to the question, “Am I gay?”

And now Puck was having a baby, like a woman? What did that say about Dave, about who he thought he was?

**88**

“Ma,” Puck said as his mother picked up the house phone back in Lima, “it’s me.” He was sitting in the bedroom, in the middle of the bed, while his boyfriends kept making food, trying to find something Puck could stomach without puking his guts out.

“Noah!” she cried. “How is my baby? New York treating you well? You know, your Aunt Ingrid has been talking about visiting you. She’s always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, you know.”

“I know, Ma,” Puck sighed. “I called ‘cause I have some news.”

“You flunked out of college?” she guessed and Puck marveled at how much faith his mother had in him.

“No,” he replied, a little bit of bite in his tone. “I know this is weird and everything, but I’m pregnant. Finn and I are having a kid.”

“You’re…” Ruth trailed off, silent for a moment before she laughed. “Oh, good one, Noah. You almost got me! Still living with Finn, then are you?”

“Yes, Ma,” Noah sighed. “And it wasn’t a joke. Apparently I’m one of those carrier guys, even though when I first got tested it said I wasn’t.”

Ruth was silent for a long time before she finally said, “You got yourself knocked up? And here I thought you were going to actually make something of your life.”

“I didn’t know it was _possible_ , Ma,” Puck argued. “And this doesn’t change anything. I can still have a good future. Finn and I are solid and Finn’s brother, Kurt, said he would help out. I can do this.”

“That’s what I said about your father,” she replied. “And look at what happened. This is going to be insanely difficult when he leaves you, Noah. Are you sure you don’t want to give your baby to a nice couple who can’t have children? Like you did before with Quinn?”

So angry, Puck couldn’t think of a response that didn’t involve cursing at his mother, he hung up the phone, figuring that would get his point across just as well.

 

 


	4. Responsibility (2 of 4)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>   Puck thought it was pretty awesome, living in New York with his three boyfriends – right up until the day he found out he was pregnant and had no idea which of them was the father. ****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for[ this prompt](http://puckurt.livejournal.com/970926.html?thread=24077230#t24077230) by[](http://ice-whisper.livejournal.com/profile)[ **ice_whisper**](http://ice-whisper.livejournal.com/)  as a sequel to [Trust (Four’s Company, Too)](http://pterawaters.livejournal.com/17831.html) ****

**Part II**

“I can’t believe we won!” Finn cried as he and Vicki hugged each other, jumping up and down. “Good Job, Ms. President!”

“Right back at you, Mr. Vice-President!” she cried, pulling him down into an enthusiastic kiss.

Whoa! Finn pushed the girl away and voiced his shock out loud, “Whoa! Vicki! I’m gay, remember?”

“Right,” Vicki answered, with a sly smile like she didn’t believe him. “Right. Of course. Sorry about that. I guess I just got caught up in the moment.”

“Good,” Finn nodded. “Because I totally have a boyfriend. I’m probably gonna propose to him pretty soon, and you wouldn’t want to get in the way of that, would you?”

“Propose?” Vicki laughed. “But you’re only twenty, Finn. Why would you want to get married?”

Finn didn’t think Puck really wanted the news of his pregnancy getting out, so he just said, “Personal reasons. Anyway, let’s keep it professional, okay? For the good of the school.”

Vicki smiled and gathered her things, pushing a pencil behind her ear as she said, “For the good of the school. I love the way you think, Finn. I think we’re going to make some important changes next year.”

“Good,” Finn nodded, kind of confused and wary of the girl he’d thought was his friend. “I’m sure we will.”

As Finn watched Vicki walk away, trying to tell himself it was okay to round up from mostly gay to entirely gay when he had three boyfriends, he wondered if any of the three would be able to tell just by looking at him that he’d accidentally kissed a girl.

**88**

By the time the school year was over, Puck was really starting to show and his boss called him into his office, saying, “I don’t know about this, Noah. I’ve had member complaints about you. They don’t want you interacting with their children.”

“Why?” Puck cried, clenching his jaw and trying not to punch something. “It’s not like I’m contagious. As long as I can still do the job, you can’t fire me, Ben. I looked it up.”

“But,” Ben replied, sitting down behind his desk and offering Puck a seat which he didn’t take – it would just be too hard to get up again, “you make people uncomfortable, Noah. Before they could just assume you were straight and a decent person to leave their kids with for an hour or two. Now it’s obvious that you sleep with men and you’re so young…”

“You know, if I was a chick, everyone would be eager to leave their kids with me,” Puck pointed out, gripping the back of the chair Ben had offered so tightly that he was sure something was going to snap soon.“I thought I’d left all this crap back in Ohio, man. I need this job. I need the money.”

“Listen,” Ben sighed, “can I put you on a desk job, just for now? Somewhere people won’t see you? When you’re back to looking like the fit young man I hired, you can go back to teaching the kid classes, alright?”

“Fine,” Puck nodded, thinking this was better than nothing. “Fine. Whatever. Might be nice being off my feet for awhile. Can I go now?”

Ben nodded. “Report to Harriet in HR tomorrow and she’ll get you settled in your new job.”

“Great,” Puck replied with a false smile before stalking out of the office to grab his things from the employee locker room. He didn’t want to be stuck behind a desk, doing paperwork. That’s why this semester had officially been his last for the foreseeable future. “Kid,” he told his stomach, rubbing the bottom of his belly as he walked, “you’re kind of a pain at the moment. Try working on that, huh?”

When he got home, to his utter lack of surprise, Rachel was there. “Noah!” she cried, jumping up from the couch next to Kurt and giving Puck a big hug. “I brought you things!”

“Uh, thanks,” he said when Rachel pushed a gift bag into his arms. “Could you keep your voice down, though? The baby’s sleeping.”

Kurt gave Puck a funny look – they’d both read the book, where Dave refused and Finn just hadn’t had the time, and they both knew the baby was still too small for Puck to be able to feel it move and tell whether it was sleeping or not. Rachel obviously hadn’t read the book, because she switched to a stage whisper and said, “Oh, of course!”

The gift bag had a few items in it, including a bottle and a one-sie with a dinosaur on it, which made Puck smiled. “We don’t know what it is yet,” he told Rachel, “but I guess girls can wear dinosaurs, too.”

“Hey,” she stage whispered again, hugging his shoulders, “if boys can have babies, girls can wear dinosaurs. And I’ve been thinking…”

“What have you been thinking?” Kurt asked, his voice skeptical as he packed the baby gifts back into the bag.

Rachel folded her hands together in front of her and said, still in a soft voice, “Well, as you know, I’ve been on many auditions lately for commercials, and though I have yet to succeed, I _have_ noticed that there are a lot of agencies hiring young babies for diaper commercials and hospital ads and things. You should put your kid in the running, Noah!”

“Uh, _no_ ,” he decided. “Just because Finn and I are going to be gay dads doesn’t mean we’re going to do to our kid what your parents did to you.”

Rachel’s mouth opened in shock and behind her, Kurt laughed into his hand, the bright lines of his smile peeking out on either end.

“Whelp,” Puck said, clapping his hands together, “I had a long day, so I’m gonna go take a nap. See ya later, Rache.”

Rachel was still too surprised or angry or something to respond, so Puck’s escape plan went off flawlessly. Awesome.

When he got to the bedroom and tried to get some sleep, though, all Puck could do was feel sick about almost losing his job and a little uneasy about how Dave kept extending his post-school-year visit with his parents. Needing to hear the guy’s voice, Puck pulled his phone out of his pants pocket (Kurt had added the elastic waist, much to Puck’s relief) and dialed Dave’s phone. It went to voicemail.

“Hey, babe,” Puck sighed into the phone. “Just wanted to hear from you. I know this whole baby thing is freaking you out, but we want you to come home. It’s gonna be fine, I promise. I just … I love you, you stupid bastard. Come home.”

Puck hung up and sighed to himself, hating the way tears came so easily now that he had baby hormones rushing though his body. It also didn’t help that he was horny as hell and neither Finn nor Kurt felt right about fucking while Dave was gone. Puck buried his face in Dave’s pillow and prayed to God for the best.

**88**

Kurt’s semester ended two weeks after Dave and Finn’s and Dave still wasn’t back in New York. Kurt could see it wearing on everyone. Things couldn’t go on as they were. He wanted to ask Finn to rent a car so they could all three drive home and get David from wherever he was hiding, but they couldn’t afford it. They couldn’t afford the car and they couldn’t afford Finn and Puck both taking that much time off of work. So, Kurt called his dad, “Hey.”

“Hey, kiddo. How’s life? How’s your brother doing with the whole Noah situation?” Burt replied, and Kurt could hear the ding-ding-ding of Burt leaving his car and the door slamming after him. “Crazy, right?”

“Yeah, dad. Crazy,” Kurt sighed. “Look, I know I hadn’t planned on coming home until the end of the summer, but would it be a terrible burden to ask you to buy me a ticket for tomorrow?”

“Homesick?” Burt asked with a chuckle, like he’d been expecting this call.

Kurt felt nothing less than vindicated when he replied, “Hell, no,” softening the statement with a laugh. “No, I’m worried about David. He’s with his parents right now and he keeps saying he’ll be back in a few days, but he’s been gone two weeks and I don’t know what’s going on. I have to go talk to him.”

“And you want me to pay for this?”

Kurt cringed, but said, “After I talk to Dave, I’ll spend two whole days with you, I promise. My next internship doesn’t start until the end of June, so I have some time to spare.”

“Sure,” Burt laughed. “Fine. I’ll book the flight and email you the details. See you tomorrow, kid.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

**88**

Finn couldn’t believe what had just happened when, dripping with so-cold-it-burned chocolate soft-serve, he was told by his boss, “You’re fired. That’s the third time you’ve destroyed a piece of equipment, Finn. I can’t afford to employ you any longer!”

“But,” Finn cried, the ice cream dripping down the front of his work pants, “I have a baby on the way, Melissa. I need this job.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Finn,” she sighed, handing him another bundle of paper towels, “but maybe you should consider a line of work that doesn’t include machinery with moving parts.”

After she walked away, Finn started mopping himself off, mumbling, “Shit,” and wondering how the hell he was going to afford that engagement ring he’d picked out for Noah on top of all the stuff for the baby. Trying not to cry as he walked toward the subway, Finn picked up his phone and dialed, his voice shaking as he said, “Mom? It’s me.”

**88**

Dave wasn’t expecting Kurt to show up on his parents’ front porch, but he should have seen it coming. “What are you doing here?” he asked, guiding Kurt to sit on the porch swing so they could talk without his parents listening in. “Is everything okay?”

“No,” Kurt sighed, readjusting his scarf and meeting Dave’s eyes for a long moment. “Everything is not okay, David. You’re still in Ohio, even though you told us you’d be home a week ago. Finn’s going crazy with jealousy that you can visit Lima while he can’t and Puck’s convinced you don’t love him anymore.”

“And what do you think?” Dave asked, not at all surprised that Kurt had taken it upon himself to come here after him.

“I think,” Kurt replied, moving closer and taking his hand, “that you’re scared. I’m scared, too Dave. Much more than I let Noah or Finn see. I’m scared they’ll want to be a family without us. I’m scared following my dreams will mean leaving them and the baby behind. I’m scared I’ll drop the kid on the head and damage it for life.”

“Yeah,” Dave nodded roughly. “Yeah, me too.”

“I’m scared of losing you,” Kurt continued, moving close enough to press a soft kiss to the side of Dave’s mouth. “And I’m not quite sure how to make it better.”

“You don’t know?” Dave asked, surprised. “I mean, you _always_ know what to do.”

Kurt laughed sadly, a tear rolling down his cheek. “I know I can be bossy-” Dave laughed, squeezing Kurt’s hand in agreement, “-but I don’t know how to be a dad. I mean, I’m sure we can figure it out, but I’d rather figure it out with you there to help me. Does that make sense?”

“Sure,” Dave agreed, slowly coming to the conclusion that all this running away had been pretty stupid. “Is it bad that I kind of don’t want to go back? I mean, _I do_ , but it’s so much responsibility, Kurt. Next year, when we all turn twenty-one, I wanted Puck to be my favorite drinking buddy, you know? I wanted all four of us to go out clubbing and meet exciting people and have crazy adventures before college is over. I don’t want to be a dad. I don’t want to be the one that got Noah pregnant.”

Kurt leaned in and whispered, “Neither do I, but I figure as long as we don’t know for sure, we can all share a little bit of that responsibility. You, me, and Finn. It won’t be so hard when it’s all of us.”

Dave nodded and sighed. “You’re right. I know you’re right. Just … be patient with me? I still have like, five more months to get used to it, right?”

“Right,” Kurt nodded, pulling Dave into another kiss and then meeting his eyes for a long moment. “You never told me whether or not you heard back about the internship.”

Smiling, Dave admitted shyly, “I got it. The commute’s going to be a bitch, but I’ll be working in a real engineering firm this summer. They’re paying me, too.”

“See?” Kurt cried, hugging Dave tightly. “We’re going to be fine. Better than fine, because we’ll have a tiny human being as proof that we all love each other and miracles are possible.”

“You don’t believe in God,” Dave pointed out, running his thumb down the side of Kurt’s face, “but you believe in miracles?”

“Sure,” Kurt shrugged, standing and holding out his hands to help Dave up. “It’s a medical miracle, but a miracle just the same. That’s how I choose to think about it.”

Nodding, Dave put and arm around Kurt’s shoulders and said, “I’ve been thinking we might need a bigger apartment, you know, for when the baby comes.”

Kurt squealed and wrapped his arms around Dave’s ribcage, breathing excitedly, “I’ve been thinking the exact same thing.”

**88**

“Hello again, Mr. Puckerman,” the doctor said as he came into the room and sat down, opening the chart on his computer. “Twenty weeks, now. Time for the ultrasound. Now,” he looked back and forth between Puck and Finn, “do we want to know the baby’s sex, or do we want to be surprised?”

“We want to know,” Finn answered for Puck, that stupid-cute wide smile on his face. The guy sure was happy for having just lost his job. Puck remembered losing his first fast-food job and yeah, okay, it made a kind of sense.

“Alright,” Guiess nodded. “Why don’t you hop up onto the table, Noah?”

Puck’s heart started beating faster in his chest and he squeezed Finn’s hand once for comfort before getting up on the table. Hearing the baby’s heartbeat for the first time two months ago had been really awesome, but now he was going to see it. He felt kind of like puking with nerves.

It took the doctor a little while to find the baby, because of Puck’s weird anatomy or whatever, but eventually an image came up and Finn leaned closer, almost blocking his view. “There’s the heart,” the doctor said, pointing to a quick flutter in the middle of the screen. The picture moved and he said, “We’ve got a head, two arms. Body looks the right size. Two legs. Oh, and it’s a girl. Congratulations.”

Puck couldn’t help it. He started crying. “Damn hormones,” he breathed as Finn wiped the tears away with one of his sleeves and then kissed Puck’s cheek.

“Everything looks healthy,” the doctor continued. “I guess we’ll see you again in four weeks.”

The doctor handed Finn a print-out of the ultrasound and Puck a few tissues to wipe off his stomach before leaving the room. Puck sat up on the table and pulled Finn close, his arms around the guy’s neck and his legs hooked around the backs of Finn’s knees. “I don’t think I could do this without you, dude,” he admitted, hating how he just couldn’t stop himself from crying like a baby. “I know Kurt called and said everything was cool, but what if they don’t come back?”

“They’ll come back. Their flight gets in today, Noah. And…” Finn cleared his throat and stepped back a little, meeting Puck’s eyes. “I know this is kind of a strange place for this,” he pulled something out of his pocket and got down on one knee. Puck didn’t know exactly what to think, but he had a pretty good idea. “But will you marry me?” He opened the box in his hand to reveal a silver band, with four tiny white stones set into it.

“What the fuck?” Puck replied, more shocked than anything else. He had never, in his life, pictured this happening to him. The other way around, sure, but Puck wasn’t the guy that got proposed _to_. Was he?

“I love you, Noah, and I want you to marry me,” Finn insisted, a dopey hopeful look on his face. “Please?”

Puck took the ring from Finn’s hand to get a better look at it, kind of laughing when he saw the tiny little skulls etched around the sides. “Why?” he asked. “I mean, what about Kurt and Dave? They’d be all left out and shit.”

“It’ll be on paper, though,” Finn insisted. “It will mean our baby will have at least two parents that are married. It’ll make it a lot easier for me to be there for you if something happens. I already talked to Kurt and he thought it was a good idea.”

Puck sighed and looked back at the ring. It even looked vaguely his size. “It would make my mother happy,” he mused, taking the ring out of the box to get a better look at it. “Jesus, Finn, did you get this out of a cereal box or something?”

“Just about,” Finn laughed, getting up off the floor and sitting down on the exam table next to Puck. “I had to borrow the money from my mom. Don’t worry, though. I’ve already put in, like a dozen new applications, including a bunch at the school. I’ll find something soon.”

Puck thought about it for a moment before pushing the ring onto his finger – it did fit – and telling Finn, “There’s no way I’m wearing a dress to the wedding, dude.”

Finn laughed and hugged him. “If it gets you down the aisle, _I’d_ wear a dress.”

“You’d wear a dress because it was Tuesday,” Puck teased, turning the ring a few times with his thumb before letting Finn kiss him again.

**88**

When Finn and Noah got home, Kurt and Dave were already there, Kurt unpacking their things and Dave watching a baseball game.

Finn couldn’t help but launch himself at Dave, practically sitting in his lap and kissing him hard, whispering, “I’m so glad you’re back.” But then Kurt was in the room, smiling brightly and Finn had to go over and give him a proper greeting, too. With tongue.

As they pulled apart and Kurt gave Noah a kiss on the cheek and a rub to his belly, he must have seen Noah’s ring. His face lit up and he turned to Finn, asking, “Does this mean I get to plan a wedding?”

“Only if Dave’s cool with it,” Puck insisted, and Finn nodded in agreement. He watched as Puck met Dave in the middle of the room, Dave looking shy and a little cowed at Puck’s hurt expression. “You left,” he pointed out, pushing Dave’s shoulder. “You’re not allowed to be a douche. Not about this.”

“Yeah, I know,” Dave nodded, carefully giving Noah an apologetic kiss before noticing the ring on Puck’s finger. “What’s this?”

Finn stepped closer to join the conversation, Kurt right at his side. “I asked Puck to marry me,” he explained. “It’s not going to change anything between the four of us, but it’ll be good for the baby. Is that … cool?”

Dave seemed hesitant, looking to Kurt for a little guidance, so Finn added, “I was thinking we could have our own little private ceremony, you know, before. Just for us.”

“Like, where we promise to be together forever?” Kurt asked, slipping his arm into Finn’s. It made Finn feel like he’d been missed, which was really nice, because there had been a few nights, curling up next to Noah in that big half-empty bed, where Finn wondered whether or not his other two boyfriends were going to come back at all.

“That was the idea,” Finn agreed.

“Gaayyy,” Noah muttered, but he was smirking, so they knew he was joking.

David laughed too, to Finn’s relief, and nodded. “Okay. I can do that. I can try.”

Everyone hugged Dave, Kurt kind of getting squished between him and Finn, and then Finn remembered, “Oh, we went to the doctor’s today.”

“Where Finn proposed,” Noah said, rolling his eyes, “like, right after I wiped off that jelly crap.”

“Finn!” Kurt cried, hitting him on the shoulder. “I thought we talked about someplace romantic, like Central Park! You proposed in the OB’s office?”

Finn shrugged, glad he hadn’t been proposing to Kurt, “It felt right. And anyway, I was going to tell you guys, it’s a girl.”

“A girl!” Kurt squealed, throwing his arms around Puck.

Finn noticed Dave got this weird, screwed up look on his face and then wiped one of his eyes. Moving over to rub his back, Finn asked, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Dave replied with a nod, forcing himself to smile. “I just … a girl. A little tiny girl? I’m …” he cried a little more, burying his face in Finn’s shoulder.

“Overwhelmed?” Finn guessed, thinking he was pretty close to feeling overwhelmed, too. He had a baby on the way and a wedding to get ready for and no job.

“Happy,” Dave confessed into the side of Finn’s neck. “I didn’t think I would be, but it’s so…” He broke halfway away from Finn to catch Noah’s eye and lean forward, putting his hand on Noah’s belly. “ _Real_ ,” he finished. “It’s real and fucked up and we’re going to be a _family_ , guys. A girl?”

“A girl,” Noah nodded, initiating another group hug. As they stood there, all sort of just holding each other, Noah said, “Not to ruin this awesome _Kumbaya_ moment or anything, but is anyone else as insanely horny as I am?”

“Fuck, yes,” Kurt groaned, and the intensity of his agreement made Finn chuckle. Kurt pulled Noah toward the bedroom, and Dave started to follow, but Finn stopped him.

“Thanks,” he told the guy, brushing away another tear and giving Dave a long kiss. “Thanks for coming back. I missed you.”

Dave sighed and kissed Finn again, holding him close and running a hand down Finn’s back to cup his ass. “I missed you, too. I just had to work some stuff out on my own for a little while, okay?”

“Yeah,” Finn replied, groaning a little when Dave squeezed his ass again. “I get it. But right now – shit – right now I just want to get naked and remember what you and Kurt and Noah feel like. C’mon.”

Finn pulled Dave into the bedroom, where Kurt and Noah were already naked, making out and rubbing against one another, even though Noah’s baby belly was sort of in the way. Beside Finn, Dave mumbled, “Fuck, that’s hot,” before pulling off his shirt, shimmying out of his jeans, and getting into bed behind Kurt.

Finn did something similar, taking a place behind Noah and sucking on his neck, loving the taste of his skin. It was a little different now that he was pregnant, but Finn loved it just the same. “God,” he sighed, running his teeth lightly over the skin on Noah’s shoulder blade and nestling his hard-on into the crack of Noah’s ass. “Love you, Noah. Glad you agreed to marry me.”

Noah ground his ass back against Finn, but his mouth was too busy sucking on Kurt’s tongue to respond. Finn loved this. He loved how carried away everyone got. He loved being able to suck on Noah’s neck and hump his ass and run his hands over Dave’s and Kurt’s sides and chests. How did people ever make do with just one other person in their bed?

Before long, Noah had turned Kurt over, pressing his chest down against the bed and pulling up his hips to get a good angle at his ass with the baby belly in the way and Dave went down on Finn, sucking him in hungrily. Finn sighed, running his hands through Dave’s hair and looking up at Noah, watching his face as he opened up Kurt and pressed in, biting his lip. Eventually Noah looked over and caught Finn’s eye, smirking as he rotated his hips, making Kurt groan long and loud.

Noah had agreed to marry him and Finn thought that was amazing. His heart swelled and he took a deep breath, right before Dave changed his angle and Finn lost it, “Oh-oh-oh!” like he hadn’t since high school. Dave laughed and swallowed before crawling up to kiss Finn, his comfortable weight pressing Finn into the mattress as they kissed. Finn dropped his hand down between them to help Dave out and whispered, “I love you, David. I always will.”

“You’re so fucking sentimental,” Dave replied with a chuckle, groaning against Finn’s lips. “But I love you, too.”

 

  



	5. Responsibility (3 of 4)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>   Puck thought it was pretty awesome, living in New York with his three boyfriends – right up until the day he found out he was pregnant and had no idea which of them was the father. ****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for[ this prompt](http://puckurt.livejournal.com/970926.html?thread=24077230#t24077230) by[](http://ice-whisper.livejournal.com/profile)[ **ice_whisper**](http://ice-whisper.livejournal.com/)  as a sequel to [Trust (Four’s Company, Too)](http://pterawaters.livejournal.com/17831.html) ****

**Part III**

“Can’t we just do this before I get too much bigger?” Puck asked, flipping through another one of the magazines Kurt had plopped in front of them one Friday evening. “I mean, you planned your parents’ wedding in, like, a week.”

“In Lima,” Kurt pointed out, leaning against Finn as he pointed out something or another, “where all it took to book a venue that last minute was a fifty-dollar bribe and a promise to clean up after ourselves. This is New York. We’ll be incredibly lucky to get something even half-suitable before the baby comes.”

“I still say we just go down to Atlantic City,” Dave shrugged, scrolling down another page of apartment listings on his laptop. “They have wedding chapels there, right?”

“If we don’t do a Jewish ceremony,” Puck pointed out, “my mother’s gonna go ape shit. It’s bad enough you’re a guy, Finn. I think she was assuming me being bi and with you was just a phase. When I told her we were getting married?” Puck licked his lips and tried to remember the exact words she’d used. “She said, ‘At least you won’t be giving birth out of wedlock, like a whore,’ and hung up on me.”

“She said that?” Kurt cried, his face wide with horror on his behalf. “What makes you think a Jewish ceremony would do anything to change her mind?”

“Have you met Ruth Puckerman?” Finn laughed, shaking his head. “She’s like obsessed with being Jewish. Why do you think Noah still goes to Temple every Saturday?”

“Yeah,” Puck added. “I think if she found out I didn’t go, she’d drive up here just to yell at me for twenty-four hours straight. She’s not even that religious.”

“Would your Rabbi do a gay ceremony?” Kurt asked, “Because we can get the marriage license no problem, but I’m not sure who to go to for the religious side of things.”

“Yeah, the Temple I go to is chill. Very modern,” Puck shrugged. “I think the bigger issue is the fact that Finn’s not Jewish. Rabbi Henry might want you to convert before he agrees to do it.”

“Convert?” Finn asked. “But the last time I prayed, it was to Grilled Cheesus. I don’t think even a super-modern Jewish church would want me.”

“Doesn’t hurt to ask,” Puck replied. “You could come with me tomorrow. Show them how fucking cute you are. They’ll be falling all over themselves to convert you, dude.”

“You think?” Finn asked with a wide grin. He always loved a little flattery.

**88**

After the service, Puck pulled Finn toward Rabbi Henry, who had long hair and a short beard, and introduced him as his fiancé. Finn thought that was pretty cool. Fiancé.

“Making an honest man of Noah, huh?” the Rabbi asked, looking up to Noah for permission before rubbing his belly a little. “I’m guessing you’re going to ask me to do the service.”

“If you could,” Noah nodded. “We’d like to do it as soon as possible, which doesn’t give Finn much time to convert…”

“I don’t ask spouses to convert anymore,” Henry said with a wave of his hand. “It never ends well, in my experience, though I do expect the little one to be brought up Jewish. I don’t think we could do the ceremony in the synagogue, though. You know, God’s house and all that.”

“Sure,” Finn nodded, wondering where else Kurt would find for the wedding to take place. “Thanks, sir. I really wasn’t looking forward to the symbolic circumcision pin-prick thing…”

The rabbi laughed and nodded. “I’ll check my schedule and get back to you, Noah.”

Before he could move on, Noah said, “Wait. Rabbi Henry?”

“Yes?”

“Look, our vows might not include certain things, like promising to forsake all others. I mean, we’re always honest with each other, but … yeah. Is that a problem for you?”

The rabbi frowned but eventually nodded. “We’ll use the vows you want to promise honestly. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Well, that went well,” Finn said, smiling down at Noah, who looked more than a little relieved. “How about some pancakes?”

“God, yes,” Noah groaned. “I’m starving. We should call the guys to come join us. I’m sure Kurt will want to do more planning.”

“Sure,” Finn agreed, pulling Noah close and kissing his temple. Now Finn just had to hear back about his last round of interviews. He was hopeful at least one of the three would hire him. They had to, right?

**88**

Just before the rehearsal and the dinner and all the final preparations for the wedding, Kurt and his boyfriends escaped their parents for a few minutes and walked to another area of the park. It was a beautiful summer day, and Kurt sighed at the blue sky and the green trees surrounding them. He’d been planning this event for a month and going crazy in the process, but hopefully everything would go to plan. Kurt had started to think of it as a dry run for when David finally got his head together and proposed to him. That wedding he would plan for a year and a half at least.

This ceremony was private, though. It was just the four of them, standing together under a tree in their business casual clothes they would wear to the rehearsal, everyone looking to Kurt for what to do. “Here,” he said, pulling a box out of his jacket pocket. “These are the rings Finn and Noah are using tomorrow,” he separated out two of the rings, handing them to Dave, and then pulled out two more rings, one significantly larger than the other. “Rings symbolize eternity because there’s no beginning and no end,” he explained, smirking a little when he saw Noah start to tear up.

“And these rings are our hope that we will always be together. Today we’re promising to love each other for the rest of our lives and raise Noah’s baby as our own, even if it clearly looks like one of us. Do you promise this, Finn?”

Finn met each of their eyes in turn and then said, “I do. I promise.”

Kurt smiled and nodded at Dave, saying, “Take this ring, from all three of us, and let it remind you what you mean to us.” Dave pushed the ring onto Finn’s finger, giving him a smile as it slipped down past his last knuckle to settle next to his palm.

Kurt repeated the lines for Noah and then let Finn finish speaking while Noah pushed the rings onto his and David’s fingers. “And that’s it,” Finn finished, grabbing Noah’s hand.

Kurt pulled each of his now-husbands into a kiss and let them exchange kisses as well, smiling giddily when Finn crushed him in a hug and then Dave kissed Kurt again, giving him a little tongue. He knew this relationship was weird and that if anyone found out, they probably wouldn’t get it, but he didn’t care. He knew that after a long night of performing on Broadway, he would always have a home to come back to – a bed full of men that he loved and a child of their very own.

He felt lucky.

**88**

“You ready?” Kurt asked Finn, reaching up to straighten his tie, his ring sitting on his right hand, so that no one would know the truth. Finn’s ring was in Dave’s pocket, waiting for Noah to give it back to him.

Finn chuckled and admitted, “I’m nervous. What if I do something stupid?”

“I’ll be right next to you the whole time,” Kurt assured him. As Finn’s step-brother, Kurt was acting as his best man, with Dave as Noah’s. They didn’t have any other attendants, though they had asked Rachel to sing. To Finn’s surprise, she had agreed, and he guessed she was over the drama that had happened between them in high school. It was nice. Kurt wiped a piece of lint off of Finn’s shoulder and added, “I won’t let you do anything stupid. You’ll be great.”

“Thanks, babe,” Finn replied, leaning down to kiss Kurt quickly on the lips.

Kurt quirked an eye at him and said, “My dad’s going to be right back. You shouldn’t have done that.”

“I couldn’t help it,” Finn replied, giving Kurt a pout until he laughed and shook his head.

“Hey boys!” Burt called from the doorway of the prep-tent. “You ready?”

Kurt stepped back and agreed, “Ready. Doesn’t he look handsome?”

“Very,” Burt grinned, clapping Finn on the shoulder. “You know, I’m real proud of you, Finn. Not every guy would step up like you have. I know you and Noah are gonna make it.”

“Thanks, Burt,” Finn sighed. “I really hope so.”

“You two thinking about moving into your own place when the baby comes?” Burt asked as they walked out of the tent toward the ceremony site.

Looking to Kurt for some help, Finn answered, “Uh, I don’t think so. As long as Kurt and Dave don’t mind the baby, it’ll be a lot easier to afford a three-bedroom apartment if we stick together.”

“Finn heard back about his job this morning,” Kurt added, changing the topic as they approached their side of the ceremony site. “He got a position in the administration office at his school. Isn’t that great?”

“Yeah sure,” Burt agreed, “Great job, Finn. Now get up there and get married!”

As the music started, Finn walked in from one side of the site, which was all open air and not really defined by anything more than a few tent poles and some creative streamers Kurt had put up. Finn’s mom was sitting in the front row on one side, and Noah’s mom and sister were on the other. Once Ruth had found out about the rabbi, she had agreed to come. Not many others made it. A few of their in-town friends, Rachel, Noah’s extended family, Burt’s brother Andy. Barely thirty people, but it was all Kurt could come up with in a month and Finn felt grateful for each and every one of them.

Noah met Finn in the middle, just in front of the rabbi, wearing a white tux with a black shirt that Kurt had altered for him so it fit over his six-month baby bump. He looked so handsome and like he loved Finn so much that Finn couldn’t help but start crying a little. Noah smirked and for once wasn’t tearing up and standing behind him, Dave looked almost amused. It made Finn feel a little silly, but when the ceremony was over and he and Noah kissed, it was all worth it.

At the reception, which was held in the party room of an Italian restaurant that Noah swore was run by the mob, Ruth Puckerman approached Finn and pulled him down into a hug, saying, “Welcome to the family, Finn. You’d better make by baby boy happy and never, ever leave him. Or I will find you and bad things will happen. You got it?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Finn nodded, more intimidated than he would care to admit.

**88**

When Puck stepped away from the party for a few minutes to cool down – he got really overheated these days and it always made him feel a little sick – he got a few looks on the way to the bathroom and back, but he was used to it. He wasn’t used to being stopped just outside the party room by a man wearing eyes Puck would never forget.

“Hey, son.” His hair was a lot grayer than Puck remembered and his face was starting to wrinkle, but Puck still recognized him.

“Dad?” Puck said, really more surprised than anything else. “Why are you here?”

“Boy, you’re really let yourself go,” Eli Puckerman chuckled, poking Puck’s belly and looking like he truly didn’t realize that Puck was pregnant. “Anyway, heard you were gettin’ married and thought I’d swing by. Who’s the lucky lady?”

Puck rolled his eyes and opened the door to the party room, standing in the doorway as he pointed, “The tall one in the black tux.”

“Tux?”

“It’s Finn Hudson, Dad. I married my best friend from grade school.”

Eli nodded before stepping back out of the doorway and looking Puck up and down. “Can’t say I would’ve ever guessed you’d turn out queer. Oh, well. To each his own, I guess. Finn Hudson, huh?”

“Are you staying or going or what?” Puck asked, tired of standing in the doorway. Tired of standing at all.

“I see your mother in there,” Eli smirked, “so I’m gonna go. Just thought I’d wish you good luck and give you this.” He handed Puck an envelope, clapped him on the shoulder and then walked away, weaving through the restaurant and never looking back. Just like before.

“Who was that?” Dave asked from the other side of the doorway, watching the man go out the front door.

Puck shook his head and looked down at the plain office envelope in his hand, telling Dave, “That was my dad. I haven’t seen him in ten years and then he just left again.”

Dave shrugged and said, “Maybe you should have told him it was an open bar.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Puck muttered, tearing open the envelope and pulling out two pieces of paper. One was a folded-up color photocopy of a worn picture of Puck and his dad from about fifteen years ago. The other was a check for five hundred dollars. “Huh.”

**88**

That night, in a not-the-honeymoon-suite of a mid-rate hotel close to the restaurant where they’d held the reception, Kurt and Dave watched from the couch on side of the room while Finn and Noah made love. They kissed together intimately and Kurt sighed at the romance, settling closer into Dave’s arms and closing his eyes.

“Exhausted?” Dave asked in a soft voice, so he wouldn’t distract Finn from kissing all over Noah’s body.

“Yeah,” Kurt replied with a sigh. “When we get married, there’s no way I’m cramming all of the planning into anything less than a year.”

He knew he’d said something wrong when Dave stiffened, but stayed silent.

“I mean,” Kurt explained softly, petting David’s chest. “If you wanted to. At some point. Very far into the future.”

“Okay,” Dave nodded, pulling Kurt into a kiss. “Some day. Very far into the future. I mean,” he held up his right hand, “we’ve already pretty much done the deed. We’ll start saving or something after we graduate.”

“You mean it?” Kurt asked, trying not to get too excited about what he would wear while walking down the aisle.

“Yeah,” Dave agreed, kissing Kurt again. “I mean it.”

Kurt hugged his almost-husband close and tried to remember that tonight was about Noah and Finn and he wasn’t supposed to get Dave out of his pants. The conviction didn’t last once Noah started riding Finn slowly, looking over at Kurt and Dave like he knew what they were thinking and nodding with a smirk.

“Oh, thank god,” Kurt sighed, pulling Dave away from the couch and onto the bed, shedding some of his clothes in the process.

**88**

The school year started again and along with it the intramural touch-football team that Dave and Finn had played on every year so far. Puck had played with them the first year, but then ran out of time when he switched to night classes. This year he was pregnant.

Dave missed sports during the off season. Sure he and Finn went out jogging three times a week, but it wasn’t the same. Even if this wasn’t tackle football, he still got to run around on the field with the guys, usually defending Finn’s ass from the other team until he threw the ball downfield. Their receivers were pretty crappy and Dave’s team didn’t win very many games, but it was fun.

One of the first games of the year, Puck and Kurt came along to watch from the sidelines, cheering them on. Everyone could tell now that Puck was pregnant, not just fat with a beer-belly or the freshman twenty. His usual response to being stared at was an upraised middle finger, which Dave found hilarious and Kurt complained was dangerous. Kurt sat beside Puck on the bleachers, wearing last year’s fall coat (they were saving money for the big apartment and the baby) and a bright red scarf that set off his rosy cheeks.

At the end of the game, when Dave and Finn won, both their boyfriends stormed the field with the rest of the spectators, Kurt flinging himself into Dave’s arms and Puck pulling Finn down into a steamy kiss. Dave vaguely saw a camera flash go off and turned to see a girl taking several pictures of Finn and Puck as they kissed and then parted, hands laced together.

Dave stormed over to the girl and asked, “What the hell are you doing?”

“Amy Lennox,” she said, holding up her student ID, “school newspaper. I’m reporting on our student body vice-president’s extracurricular activities. You wouldn’t happen to know the boyfriend’s name, would you?”

“That’s Finn’s _husband_ ,” Dave explained. “Noah Puckerman. You got a problem with them?”

The girl stuck the tip of her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she typed something into her phone or whatever. “No,” she said eventually. “No problem. Hey, do you know if Mr. Puckerman is pregnant? He certainly looks it from here.”

“No comment,” Dave replied, moving away and realizing he’d as good as said yes. Whatever. It wasn’t like Puck was trying to hide it or anything. He was pregnant. That was that.

**88**

“Hey,” the student treasurer, a boy named Greg, said when Finn walked into the student council office after his lit class, “have you seen the newspaper this morning?”

“No,” Finn replied, shaking his head. “Why?”

Greg handed the student newspaper over, and Finn saw that the picture above the fold was one of him in his football gear, one arm wrapped around Noah as they kissed. The headline said something about, “Vice-President Soon to be a Father – Too much for one council member to handle?”

“What the crap is this?” Finn cried as he read further down. “Who’s this Amy Lennox? Why would she print my private business?”

“I guess when you’re in politics,” Greg sighed, “everything’s public business, even the fact that you knocked up your boyfriend.”

“He’s my husband,” Finn amended, holding up his left hand to show Greg he was wearing a ring. “Who does this person think she is, suggesting that I can’t be vice-president and a father at the same time? It’s not like I have that much responsibility here. I mean I do, but I can totally handle it.”

“When is the baby due?” Greg asked. “I mean, this is information that Vicki would love to know.”

“The c-section is scheduled for three weeks from now,” Finn replied, “on the eighteeth.My brother is living with us, though, and he’s going to help out. People have kids all the time.”

“Not college people,” Greg insisted. “This might hurt your chances of being reelected.”

Finn scoffed and headed toward his desk. “Elections are in the spring, Greg. And I have some calls to make. Why are we even talking about this?”

Greg shrugged and Finn made a point to email Vicki as soon as he sat down, telling her yes, his husband was having a baby in three weeks and no, it wasn’t going to change anything.

**88**

As Kurt and Puck sat in the living room one afternoon, waiting for Finn and Dave to get home, Kurt asked, “Can I sing to her for a little bit?”

Puck smiled and lifted up his shirt (one of Dave’s actually, because it sort of fit better than any of Puck’s real clothes). “Sure, babe. Knock yourself out.”

Puck watched as Kurt leaned forward and sang, “You are my sunshine,” to his belly. It had been awhile since he’d heard Kurt sing except for along with the radio or something. Kurt was taking vocal music classes, of course, but his first recital of the year wasn’t until December. Puck imagined going, their baby girl in his arms and a husband on either side, cheering Kurt on as he sang.

When Kurt’s song came to a close, the baby kicked, making Puck laugh. “She wants you to keep going,” he chuckled, petting the side of Kurt’s face fondly. “Sing another one.”

About an hour later, when Finn got home, Kurt was still singing softly and Puck wondered why it had been so long since he’d written any music. The idea of coming to New York had been to join a band, but he’d sort of lost track of that with first school and then the baby. He was taking a few months off of work to be with the baby after she came. Maybe he’d use some of that time to write something new, trying it out on his newborn to get her approval before letting the others hear.

Puck smiled at the thought.

**88**

Dave and Finn were studying together in the school library, not because they had the same classes, but because it was nice and quiet and they might as well.The apartment had been noisy lately with Puck’s renewed interest in songwriting and Kurt’s attempted remodelof the third bedroom now that they’d moved. Dave had been afraid that Kurt would deck-out the room in cotton candy pink once they’d figured out it was a girl, but he’d gone for a primary-color zoo theme instead, declaring primary colors more stimulating for a baby’s growing brain. Dave wondered if he should have read the baby book more carefully and then decided passing his linear algebra class was more important.

“Dudes, look,” a voice hissed from a few tables away, and Dave tried to ignore it. This problem set had to be turned in by midnight and it wasn’t looking good. “It’s that homo that got elected VP! Did you hear he knocked up some dude?”

“Guys,” Finn called, his voice soft but authoritative, “I can hear you. Yes, my husband is pregnant. No, it won’t affect my duties as Vice President. Give it a rest, huh?”

“Is that him?” one of the guys asked, pointing at Dave. “He looks thick enough to be pregnant.”

Dave practically growled. He hated being called fat, because he wasn’t. Not really. He was just husky and always had been. He was a god damned athlete, for Christ’s sake, able to keep up with Finn easily during their jogs around the city.

“This is my roommate,” Finn explained, packing up his things. “C’mon Dave, let’s go.”

“No,” Dave muttered, turning back to his problem set, even though he could barely see through the anger. “I’m staying here and I’m finishing this up.”

“Fine,” Finn said, spreading his things back out before giving the boys at the other table a harsh glare. “Don’t you have work you should be doing?”

The boys laughed, but they didn’t bother Dave and his husband anymore. After a few minutes, Dave growled under his breath, “Just when I was starting to really think New York was different from Ohio…”

“It is,” Finn insisted. “Those dudes are probably freshman, just in from wherever they grew up. They haven’t learned how things are yet.”

Dave grunted that Finn was probably right and sighed, turning back to his problem set.

“Thanks for asking me to stay,” Finn added, patting Dave’s wrist. “It was the right thing to do.”

Dave let a slow smile spread across his face. He liked it when his husbands were proud of him.

**88**

The night before the surgery, Puck sat in bed with his boys, trying not to freak out too much. “It’s gonna be alright, isn’t it?” Puck asked, snuggling closer into Dave’s side. “I mean, we’re both gonna make it, right?”

“The doctor said you were doing well two days ago,” Finn said. “And you’ll be awake the whole time. It’s going to be great.”

“We get to meet our daughter tomorrow!” Kurt sighed, rubbing Puck’s very full belly. He was only thirty-seven weeks, according to the ultrasound measurements, but he felt big enough. The doctor wanted to do the c-section this week instead of waiting for forty, because it was sort of a miracle he’d made it this far without complications and they didn’t want to press their luck.

“We haven’t decided on a name yet,” Dave added, rubbing his cheek over the top of Noah’s hair. “I still like Penelope.”

“Eh,” Puck shrugged. His personal favorite at the moment was Ariel, because it was Jewish and meant “lion of God” and that was totally badass. “I suppose I could get used to calling our little girl Penny…”

“I still like Rose,” Kurt said, still rubbing Puck’s belly lightly. Puck hoped the scars from the c-section weren’t going to be too bad. He’d been proud of his sexy abs before getting pregnant and all his husbands seemed to like them, too. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long to get back into shape.

Finn broke into the conversation quietly, saying, “Melody. Because we all like music so much.”

“I guess we’ll have to see her before we decide,” Puck sighed, closing his eyes and turning onto his side so he could fall asleep. Tomorrow. Tomorrow was the big day.

**88**

Kurt hated waiting in hospitals. Only Finn was allowed in the operating room, since he was technically Noah’s only husband, so Kurt and Dave were banished to wait out here along with Noah’s mother, who had arrived in town just that morning. “It’s nice that you boys are so close, but don’t you have class or anything?”

“We scheduled everything around today,” Kurt explained for the second time.

Dave nodded, adding, “Yeah. We couldn’t stay away, not with our friends going through something this important.”

“I suppose Finn is your brother, Kurt,” Ruth nodded, flipping through a magazine slowly. “Though I can’t say any of my brothers came to the hospital when I had Noah. How nice for Finn that you’re here.”

Kurt hated the way that although Ruth’s words were complimentary, her tone was biting and harsh, like she was constantly disappointed. It had to be a hard way to live a life.

**88**

Finn held Noah’s hand and tried not to look over the partition where the OB was cutting his husband open in order to get their daughter out. “How much longer?” Noah asked, his voice sort of out of it. They’d given him some drugs and a spinal something so he wouldn’t feel the pain. Finn hated seeing him all helpless like this. Soon, though. Soon he’d be back up and in fighting shape.

“Soon,” Finn whispered in Noah’s ear. “Soon, babe.”

The surgeon worked for a few more minutes before saying, “And here we go.” He made a big motion, and it looked like he was sort of twisting the baby out before handing it off to the nurse beside him. The baby’s eyes were closed and she looked kind of shocked and upset right before she started crying. It was awesome.

Finn had asked beforehand if he could cut the umbilical cord, but the OB said it wasn’t a good idea, since the c-section was a sterile surgical field. Now that Finn had a better idea of how much blood was involved, he decided that the surgeon was right.

Turning to Noah as the nurse took the baby away to get cleaned up, Finn reported, “She’s perfect, Noah. Just a few more minutes and you can see her.”

“Great,” Noah nodded, wincing a little and closing his eyes. “Ya stitchin’ me up, doc?”

“I am, Mr. Puckerman,” he replied with a little chuckle. “You’ll be good to go in just a few minutes. Your daughter looks healthy and a very good size. You did a good job carrying her.”

Noah nodded, his eyes still closed, and squeezed Finn’s hand, a tear or two running backward from his eyes. Finn grinned and squeezed his hand in return.

Just like promised, a tiny baby was handed to them and Finn was careful of how to hold her, supporting her neck, as he bent down to show her to Noah. Her face was all red and squished up and she had thick, dark-black hair all over her head, and she was flawless.

Noah said as much as he reached out to brush the baby’s cheek with one knuckle. “She’s perfect. I think we’ll keep her.”

Finn laughed and nodded, “Of course we will, babe.”

Noah sort of drifted out then and Finn watched as the baby opened her eyes. “They’re blue,” he said and a nurse must have heard him, because she responded.

“They’ll probably darken up as she gets older. It happens pretty often.”

Finn nodded and studied her some more, looking for some sign of who she might actually belong to, who she looked like. He couldn’t tell. Finn smiled. He couldn’t tell. She really did belong to all of them.

 


	6. Responsibility (4 of 4)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>   Puck thought it was pretty awesome, living in New York with his three boyfriends – right up until the day he found out he was pregnant and had no idea which of them was the father. ****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for[ this prompt](http://puckurt.livejournal.com/970926.html?thread=24077230#t24077230) by[](http://ice-whisper.livejournal.com/profile)[ **ice_whisper**](http://ice-whisper.livejournal.com/)  as a sequel to [Trust (Four’s Company, Too)](http://pterawaters.livejournal.com/17831.html) ****

**Epilogue**

“Daddy Dave!” Ariel Penelope Rose Hudson cried as Dave came through the door of their apartment, launching herself into his arms. Dave caught his daughter with a laugh, pulling on one of her dark-blonde braids as he settled her in his arms.

“What’s going on, pumpkin?” he asked, carrying the four-year-old into the kitchen where Noah and Kurt were working together to make dinner. Kurt’s ass had a big flour handprint that made Dave give Noah a smirking look as he kissed both of them hello.

“Grandpa Burt and Grandma Carole are coming to visit! Isn’t that awesome? I bet they bring me a bunch of presents. I’m their only grandkid, you know.”

“I do know that,” Dave smiled, taking a dollop of the sour cream Kurt was using and dropping it on her nose. “But not for long.”

Noah shook his head as he passed, mumbling, “Can’t believe I let you talk me into this again…” his belly leading the way as he went to go set the table in the dining room.

“Where’s your Daddy Finn?” Dave asked his daughter, laughing as she went cross-eyed and tried to clean the sour cream off her nose with her tongue.

“Ahh worrhh,” she mumbled around her tongue before giving up and using her fingers. “He’s trying to be on the shitty council.”

Biting back a laugh, Dave gave Noah a look and he shrugged, mouthing, “What?” like he was completely innocent. Yeah, right.

“Finn will be home soon,” Kurt replied, “and I have to leave right after dinner. Rehearsal, you know. Baby?” he asked, stopping in front of Dave and meeting Ariel’s eyes. “Are you going to come see my show when it opens?”

“I guess,” she sighed, struggling until Dave put her down so she could run after Noah, chasing him around the table.

“We’ll really need to grill her on the rules before your parents get here,” Dave told Kurt, following him back into the kitchen. “I love the whole Daddy Dave, Daddy Kurt thing, but I think it’s just going to confuse your parents.”

“I know,” Kurt sighed, smiling over his shoulder when Dave wrapped his arms around Kurt from behind. “But it’s been awhile since we’ve seen them and if we want any help paying for the wedding…”

“You think they’ll expect us to get our own place once we’re married on paper?” Dave asked, burying his nose in Kurt’s shoulder. “We can only claim to be poor college students for so long before its obvious we’re not anymore.”

“I don’t care,” Kurt sniffed. “We’ll just tell them we like living with Finn and Noah and let them make of it what they will.”

“And what if Ariel mentions how we normally all sleep in the big bed?” Finn asked as he came into the room, grabbing a glass from the cupboard and filling it with tap water, taking a long gulp before he continued. “It’s kinda hard to explain that away and I don’t like the idea of making our daughter a liar.”

“Who’s a liar?” Ariel asked as she slid into the kitchen on her socks. “Liars are bad, mean people, like Daddy Noah.”

“Hey!” Noah cried from the other room. “What did I ever lie about?”

“Daddy!” Ariel shouted back, making Finn wince like he had a headache already. “You said that the Easter Bunny was married to the Tooth Fairy and that’s just not true! Bobby Perkins told me so!”

“And you believe everything Bobby Perkins tells you?” Noah asked as he joined them in the kitchen, tugging on both of Ariel’s braids. “I think someone has a crush.”

“I’ll crush you!” Ariel cried, roaring at the top of her lungs and stomping her feet until Noah feigned fear and ran away again.

“Should he really be roughhousing while he’s seven months pregnant?” Dave asked the others before grabbing a carrot stick from the tray Kurt had set out.

Later that night, while he was taking his turn tucking Ariel in, she surprised Dave by saying, “No one else at preschool has four daddies. Leah has two mommies. How come I don’t have any mommies?”

“Because, Baby,” Dave explained, kissing her forehead and glad they’d decided to tell Ariel the truth when she started asking questions, “Daddy Noah is your mommy. He grew you in his tummy just like he’s growing your little brother. He’s a special sort of daddy called a carrier because he can carry you in his tummy.”

“Oh,” she nodded, thinking over that fact, her bright blue eyes shining in the dim lamp-light. At this point, with those eyes and cheekbones, they were all pretty sure that Kurt was her biological father, but sometimes she would put on a facial expression that just made you wonder. Like right now. When Ariel was thinking hard, she looked a lot like Finn. Eventually her expression softened and she got Noah’s wicked grin. “Does that mean I can call Daddy Noah Mommy?”

“Sure,” Dave laughed, squeezing her arm before he got up. “Go for it, kid.”

“Thanks, Daddy Dave,” she whispered as she turned onto her side to go to sleep. Dave watched her back for a moment from the doorway and shook his head at the thought that he’d almost walked away from this. That would have been the worst mistake of his life, almost as bad as threatening Kurt the way he had in high school. It was all good now, though. He and Kurt were getting married at Christmas, the baby was due in about six weeks, and Dave was pretty sure he was about to get a promotion at work. Life was better than he ever expected it to be.

 


End file.
